I had another dream last night, this one much shorter. And it was actually music-related.
I dreamed I was interviewing Whitney Houston. A pretty good trick, since she's been dead for five years.
But Whitney didn't let that little problem get in her way. She was lookin' fine and keepin' it real, and the interview proceeded without pausing for any decomposition issues:
Q: Whitney, a lot of people think you had the most beautiful voice in pop music history.
A: Well, thank you. It was nothing, really. I was blessed.
Q: But a lot of people also think you wasted that voice on a lot of really awful material....
A: ...Well, I wouldn't say that Dolly Parton's "I'll Always Love You" was awful material....
Q: Yes, but a lot of people thought you howled like a dog in that song.
A: ...WELL! ....
The dream fell apart and I woke up at that point, but I decided that dream could easily wait until the next day to be posted here. And then I went right back to sleep.
More travel over the Valentine's Day weekend in the continuing mission to collect Strange Music in order to get That Book written. Among the items purchased at Tacoma's HI-VOLTAGE RECORDS and Port Townsend's QUIMPER SOUND include The Incredible String Band's RELICS best-of and LIQUID ACROBAT AS REGARDS THE AIR, Michael Hoenig's DEPARTURE FROM THE NORTHERN WASTELAND, Nektar's REMEMBER THE FUTURE, Enid's AERIE FAERIE NONSENSE (great title) and TOUCH ME, McKendree Spring's SPRING SUITE, Oregon's WINTER LIGHT and FRIENDS, Vangelis's SPIRAL, Argent's ALL TOGETHER NOW, Ambrosia's first, Chris Squire's FISH OUT OF WATER, Van der Graaf Generator's REFLECTIONS best-of, Synergy's AUDION ... oh, and Blue Oyster Cult's SPECTRES, The Who's QUADROPHENIA, and The Shoes' TONGUE TWISTER. Not sure how those last three snuck in there, but anyway.
I haven't heard most of these before, and reports on them will be posted here soon.
I continue to be impressed by HI-VOLTAGE's vast selection of vinyl. They've got lotsa good CD's, too. The atmosphere's wonderful and the people are nice. All music sounds better played on their store sound-system. But bring your wallet, and make sure your bank account can survive a visit. They also have a website: hivoltagerecords.com.
QUIMPER SOUND has some charm with its underground in-a-cave location, and the owner is friendly and talkative. Most of the prices are quite reasonable, and he gave me a great deal on the two ISB albums, which hadn't been priced yet.
The store also has a TON of $1 albums I'd like to dig through, but it could take DAYS. The owner said he tossed a couple of Richard Thompson albums in with the cheapies awhile back to see if people were awake -- and they were gone the first day. So, someday when I have lots of time to waste....
QUIMPER SOUND is also co-sponsoring the 2nd Annual Port Townsend Record Show, set for 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 4 at the PT American Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St. Parking and admission are free. QS's owner said they're expecting nearly three-dozen record-dealers, some from as far away as Portland, Ore. More info's available here. I'm planning to attend early, even though it's a work day for me. The owner said last year's session was a blast. Sounds like a good time to me....
Also made a return trip to PT's WILLIAM JAMES BOOKS, a great little hole-in-the-wall used bookstore in Port Townsend's historic downtown district, that The Girlfriend and I hadn't been in since last summer. Back then, I was impressed with their huge music-related and science-fiction sections, but those have apparently shrunk over the last few months ... or maybe they sold a lot of stuff during the tourist season. Anyway, brought home a copy of Mark Lewisohn's THE BEATLES' RECORDING SESSIONS, so it was worth the trip.
My thanks to all these merchants for keeping their prices fairly reasonable for those of us on working-poor incomes....
...Do you think Port Townsend might be willing to change its name to "Pete Townshend" if he were to visit and maybe put on a show...?
Showing posts with label collecting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collecting. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
The mission continues
Another wonderful weekend. On Monday, took all the music I was bored with and all the books I'm fed up with or will never finish reading (have a real attention-span problem with fiction right now) to Half-Price Books in Tacoma and turned it all in for cash. There wasn't actually that much to turn in, just a box-full, hardly anything compared to previous trips. And though the place was jammed -- everybody in town seemed to have the same idea, and the buy-counter was piled high with trade-ins -- it was worth the trip. Even found half a dozen good cheap vinyl albums in Half-Price's $1-or-less Clearance bin. There are some real bargains in there, if you don't mind digging and maybe getting a little dirty. However, the pickin's in the full-price music bins were kinda thin....
Then took the cash to Tacoma's Hi-Voltage Records, still my favorite record store despite their occasionally OUTRAGEOUS prices. They hadn't updated their bargain bin since the last time we were there (a week ago) -- but out in the big (and expensive) vinyl room, they had several boxes full of $3 jazz albums, and I found a few spacey things in there -- Return to Forever, Stomu Yamashta, etc.
After that, started going through the expensive-vinyl bins, which I still haven't picked clean of stuff I can afford. But the PRICES! FIFTY BUCKS for a vinyl copy of Miles Davis's LIVE EVIL?! Man, is someone gonna be disappointed. $30 for Miles's ON THE CORNER? Sure it was ahead of its time, but.... I also discovered that if I ever want to pay off the mortgage, copies of Gryphon's five imported albums run from $25 to $35. But I'm not giving mine up.
(One of the guys at Hi-Voltage's competitor a mile down the street, Golden Oldies, agreed that Hi's prices are sometimes off the charts, but he added that "If you're looking for something a little off-the-wall, there's a pretty good chance that you'll find it there." "But at what scary price?" I asked. Golden Oldies has VERY reasonable prices ... but you can browse through everything in the store in 15 minutes or less.)
Did find a few things. First two Byrds albums packaged together for $13 -- a bargain, considering they were selling separately for $15 each. First two Kansas albums cheap. Argent's first. Couple Anthony Phillips solo albums (early guitarist for Genesis). Journey's DREAM AFTER DREAM, Kayak's STARLIGHT DANCER, Jethro Tull's BROADSWORD AND THE BEAST, The Nice's ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS. Renaissance's AZURE D'OR for less than $6. (Really Bad Prog will be making its return soon.)
On the way home, listened to a blues album The Girlfriend found -- Bob Margolin's DOWN IN THE ALLEY. Some pretty rockin' stuff on there, with excellent guitar and piano work: "Boogie at Midnight" is straight out of the '50s, "Tough Times" is funny, "While You're Down There" is mildly raunchy and funny, and maybe best of all "Boston Driving Blues," which is about how tough you have to be to drive in Boston. Hilarious. I don't remember "All Blues" ever playing THAT.
After getting back home (and much of Tuesday), put some of this new stuff on the stereo. Argent's "Dance in the Smoke" is pretty freaking awesome, with a great build-up. It was so good I played it a couple more times over the evening. Best new music I've heard recently. Their "Liar" isn't too far off from Three Dog Night's cover version, either. I continue to think these guys were underrated.
Anthony Phillips's work on THE GEESE AND THE GHOST and PRIVATE PARTS AND PIECES seems to be mostly low-key guitar works, pleasant but very quiet. I had hopes for a piece called "Tibetan Yak-Music," but it turned out to be a 12-string showcase, pretty and very inoffensive. Nice background music.
The Byrds' "The World Turns All Around Her" still sounds great, and I tried a few other things I hadn't heard before -- "Oh Susanna" is kinda funny, and "Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe" is fun (all the hardships you go through just make you prettier, gorgeous). But I couldn't take "We'll Meet Again" -- had to put on The Turtles' version right afterward to wash the Byrds' downbeat version away.
The first side of Genesis's NURSERY CRYME is pretty cool -- Peter Gabriel makes a good Creepy Old Man in "The Musical Box." "Return of the Giant Hogweed" is also fun -- but they were very show-offy here. I was also surprised by how clear the production was. Much less muddy than I expected. Wonder what happened on FOXTROT?
Continuing with Peter Gabriel, both "D.I.Y." and "On the Air" from PG2 are interesting -- what surprised me most on these PG tracks was I didn't mind his voice. Maybe I'm getting over it, finally.
For contrast, turned to two tracks from Genesis's ABACAB -- "Like it or Not" and "Keep it Dark," which I hadn't heard in awhile. "Like it or Not" now sounds like a blueprint for Phil Collins's whole solo career -- strange that bassist Mike Rutherford wrote it....
Then turned to Jethro Tull. The Girlfriend has a block about Tull almost as big as her block with The Beatles. But she survived "the good parts version" of SONGS FROM THE WOOD (title song, "Ring Out Solstice Bells," "The Whistler," "Fire at Midnight" and -- yes, for contrast -- "Pibroch") edited by yours truly, and she didn't complain when I followed it up with Side 2 of MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY. Of course she was blogging and maybe a little distracted by then....
I finished off with Tangerine Dream's "Monolight" from ENCORE -- still sounds great. I gotta get some more of their stuff....
(On a previous trip to Hi-Voltage, found a two-CD best-of by English folkie John Martyn -- SWEET LITTLE MYSTERIES -- that was worth $12. Despite that he was an old buddy of Nick Drake's, I'd never heard Martyn before. "May You Never" and "Solid Air" are especially nice, I like his smokey voice and sometimes-slurred vocals, and there's a nice long guitar instrumental, "Glistening Glyndebourne." There is also more nice vocal stuff that may take more listenings. Some of the later stuff gets so jazzy it almost loses form, and by the time I got to the title song, I thought John could fit in on '80s adult-contemporary radio....)
Of course, all this listening is going toward finishing that Strange Music book I've been writing in my head for 20-some years. More updates will be coming in the near-future.
Then took the cash to Tacoma's Hi-Voltage Records, still my favorite record store despite their occasionally OUTRAGEOUS prices. They hadn't updated their bargain bin since the last time we were there (a week ago) -- but out in the big (and expensive) vinyl room, they had several boxes full of $3 jazz albums, and I found a few spacey things in there -- Return to Forever, Stomu Yamashta, etc.
After that, started going through the expensive-vinyl bins, which I still haven't picked clean of stuff I can afford. But the PRICES! FIFTY BUCKS for a vinyl copy of Miles Davis's LIVE EVIL?! Man, is someone gonna be disappointed. $30 for Miles's ON THE CORNER? Sure it was ahead of its time, but.... I also discovered that if I ever want to pay off the mortgage, copies of Gryphon's five imported albums run from $25 to $35. But I'm not giving mine up.
(One of the guys at Hi-Voltage's competitor a mile down the street, Golden Oldies, agreed that Hi's prices are sometimes off the charts, but he added that "If you're looking for something a little off-the-wall, there's a pretty good chance that you'll find it there." "But at what scary price?" I asked. Golden Oldies has VERY reasonable prices ... but you can browse through everything in the store in 15 minutes or less.)
Did find a few things. First two Byrds albums packaged together for $13 -- a bargain, considering they were selling separately for $15 each. First two Kansas albums cheap. Argent's first. Couple Anthony Phillips solo albums (early guitarist for Genesis). Journey's DREAM AFTER DREAM, Kayak's STARLIGHT DANCER, Jethro Tull's BROADSWORD AND THE BEAST, The Nice's ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS. Renaissance's AZURE D'OR for less than $6. (Really Bad Prog will be making its return soon.)
On the way home, listened to a blues album The Girlfriend found -- Bob Margolin's DOWN IN THE ALLEY. Some pretty rockin' stuff on there, with excellent guitar and piano work: "Boogie at Midnight" is straight out of the '50s, "Tough Times" is funny, "While You're Down There" is mildly raunchy and funny, and maybe best of all "Boston Driving Blues," which is about how tough you have to be to drive in Boston. Hilarious. I don't remember "All Blues" ever playing THAT.
After getting back home (and much of Tuesday), put some of this new stuff on the stereo. Argent's "Dance in the Smoke" is pretty freaking awesome, with a great build-up. It was so good I played it a couple more times over the evening. Best new music I've heard recently. Their "Liar" isn't too far off from Three Dog Night's cover version, either. I continue to think these guys were underrated.
Anthony Phillips's work on THE GEESE AND THE GHOST and PRIVATE PARTS AND PIECES seems to be mostly low-key guitar works, pleasant but very quiet. I had hopes for a piece called "Tibetan Yak-Music," but it turned out to be a 12-string showcase, pretty and very inoffensive. Nice background music.
The Byrds' "The World Turns All Around Her" still sounds great, and I tried a few other things I hadn't heard before -- "Oh Susanna" is kinda funny, and "Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe" is fun (all the hardships you go through just make you prettier, gorgeous). But I couldn't take "We'll Meet Again" -- had to put on The Turtles' version right afterward to wash the Byrds' downbeat version away.
The first side of Genesis's NURSERY CRYME is pretty cool -- Peter Gabriel makes a good Creepy Old Man in "The Musical Box." "Return of the Giant Hogweed" is also fun -- but they were very show-offy here. I was also surprised by how clear the production was. Much less muddy than I expected. Wonder what happened on FOXTROT?
Continuing with Peter Gabriel, both "D.I.Y." and "On the Air" from PG2 are interesting -- what surprised me most on these PG tracks was I didn't mind his voice. Maybe I'm getting over it, finally.
For contrast, turned to two tracks from Genesis's ABACAB -- "Like it or Not" and "Keep it Dark," which I hadn't heard in awhile. "Like it or Not" now sounds like a blueprint for Phil Collins's whole solo career -- strange that bassist Mike Rutherford wrote it....
Then turned to Jethro Tull. The Girlfriend has a block about Tull almost as big as her block with The Beatles. But she survived "the good parts version" of SONGS FROM THE WOOD (title song, "Ring Out Solstice Bells," "The Whistler," "Fire at Midnight" and -- yes, for contrast -- "Pibroch") edited by yours truly, and she didn't complain when I followed it up with Side 2 of MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY. Of course she was blogging and maybe a little distracted by then....
I finished off with Tangerine Dream's "Monolight" from ENCORE -- still sounds great. I gotta get some more of their stuff....
(On a previous trip to Hi-Voltage, found a two-CD best-of by English folkie John Martyn -- SWEET LITTLE MYSTERIES -- that was worth $12. Despite that he was an old buddy of Nick Drake's, I'd never heard Martyn before. "May You Never" and "Solid Air" are especially nice, I like his smokey voice and sometimes-slurred vocals, and there's a nice long guitar instrumental, "Glistening Glyndebourne." There is also more nice vocal stuff that may take more listenings. Some of the later stuff gets so jazzy it almost loses form, and by the time I got to the title song, I thought John could fit in on '80s adult-contemporary radio....)
Of course, all this listening is going toward finishing that Strange Music book I've been writing in my head for 20-some years. More updates will be coming in the near-future.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Big listening parties set for 2017!
Happy New Year. Due to Factors Beyond My Control, I couldn't get out of bed early enough to do any music-without-coffee sessions this weekend. However, over the last few weeks (thanks to a Christmas bonus, etc.) I've been piling up lots of Strange Music for listening in the near future, almost all of which is brand new to me. And there will likely be more in the future. These intended targets for further investigation include:
King Crimson: LIZARD.
Genesis: LIVE, NURSERY CRYME, THE LAMB.
Be-Bop Deluxe: FUTURAMA, MODERN MUSIC, LIVE IN THE AIR AGE, DRASTIC PLASTIC.
The Move: SHAZAM!
Zombies: ODYSSEY AND ORACLE.
Kate Bush: THE DREAMING, AERIAL, THE RED SHOES, HOUNDS OF LOVE, THE SENSUAL WORLD.
Mahavishnu Orchestra: THE INNER MOUNTING FLAME, BIRDS OF FIRE. (yes, again....)
Matrix: WIZARD.
Klaatu: HOPE.
Incredible String Band: WEE TAM, EARTHSPAN, NO RUINOUS FEUD.
Jethro Tull: BENEFIT, STAND UP, THICK AS A BRICK, A PASSION PLAY, TOO OLD TO ROCK AND ROLL....
Solution: CORDON BLEU.
Stackridge: PINAFORE DAYS, EXTRAVAGANZA.
Audience: THE HOUSE ON THE HILL, LUNCH.
Peter Gabriel: 1 through 4.
Nektar: RECYCLED, DOWN TO EARTH.
Gentle Giant: MISSING PIECE, PLAYING THE FOOL/LIVE.
Argent: IN DEEP.
Procol Harum: GRAND HOTEL, NINTH, EXOTIC BIRDS AND FRUIT, BEST OF 2-CD set.
Strawbs: NOMADNESS, BURNING FOR YOU.
Dixie Dregs: DREGS OF THE EARTH, WHAT IF?, UNSUNG HEROES.
Utopia: ANOTHER LIVE.
Todd Rundgren: HERMIT OF MINK HOLLOW.
Jane Siberry: NO BORDERS HERE.
Triumvirat: SPARTACUS.
The Nice: WINTER TO SPRING.
ELP: TRILOGY, 1ST.
ELO: 2, ELDORADO, A NEW WORLD RECORD.
Passport: SKY BLUE.
Billy Cobham: TOTAL ECLIPSE.
Starcastle: FOUNTAINS OF LIGHT, CITADEL.
Kansas: MASQUE.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band: WATCH, NIGHTINGALES AND BOMBERS.
Dory Previn: MYTHICAL KINGS AND IGUANAS.
Wishbone Ash: ARGUS.
Fripp and Summers: I ADVANCE MASKED, BEWITCHED.
Renaissance: TURN OF THE CARDS, SCHEHERAZADE, NOVELLA.
Flairck: VARIATIONS ON A LADY.
Automatic Man: VISITORS.
Alan Parsons Project: EYE IN THE SKY, AMMONIA AVENUE.
Jean-Michel Jarre: OXYGENE, EQUINOXE.
Journey: IN THE BEGINNING, LOOK INTO THE FUTURE.
Horslips: THE BOOK OF INVASIONS.
Synergy: CORDS.
Return to Forever: HYMN OF THE SEVENTH GALAXY.
Focus: MOVING WAVES.
Steve Hillage: L.
Rick Wakeman: KING ARTHUR, HENRY VIII, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, CRIMINAL RECORD.
...and there's more. All this listening-work is intended to help me finish that "Strange Music" book I've been working on for 20 years. We'll see how far I get....
I couldn't have piled up this stuff without the help of Tacoma's HALF-PRICE BOOKS' $1-or-less vinyl clearance bin, or the clearance section and other occasionally-cheap vinyl prices at Tacoma's HI-VOLTAGE record store. I recommend both of them, and also Port Orchard's NEW 2 YOU ANTIQUE MALL, Tacoma's GOLDEN OLDIES and the GOODWILL stores in Port Orchard and Silverdale. Also Port Townshend's QUIMPER SOUND. If you're in the Tacoma-Gig Harbor-Bremerton area, those stops will keep you busy for awhile. They still have stuff I wish I'd grabbed that I now want to go back and pick up.
More soon....
King Crimson: LIZARD.
Genesis: LIVE, NURSERY CRYME, THE LAMB.
Be-Bop Deluxe: FUTURAMA, MODERN MUSIC, LIVE IN THE AIR AGE, DRASTIC PLASTIC.
The Move: SHAZAM!
Zombies: ODYSSEY AND ORACLE.
Kate Bush: THE DREAMING, AERIAL, THE RED SHOES, HOUNDS OF LOVE, THE SENSUAL WORLD.
Mahavishnu Orchestra: THE INNER MOUNTING FLAME, BIRDS OF FIRE. (yes, again....)
Matrix: WIZARD.
Klaatu: HOPE.
Incredible String Band: WEE TAM, EARTHSPAN, NO RUINOUS FEUD.
Jethro Tull: BENEFIT, STAND UP, THICK AS A BRICK, A PASSION PLAY, TOO OLD TO ROCK AND ROLL....
Solution: CORDON BLEU.
Stackridge: PINAFORE DAYS, EXTRAVAGANZA.
Audience: THE HOUSE ON THE HILL, LUNCH.
Peter Gabriel: 1 through 4.
Nektar: RECYCLED, DOWN TO EARTH.
Gentle Giant: MISSING PIECE, PLAYING THE FOOL/LIVE.
Argent: IN DEEP.
Procol Harum: GRAND HOTEL, NINTH, EXOTIC BIRDS AND FRUIT, BEST OF 2-CD set.
Strawbs: NOMADNESS, BURNING FOR YOU.
Dixie Dregs: DREGS OF THE EARTH, WHAT IF?, UNSUNG HEROES.
Utopia: ANOTHER LIVE.
Todd Rundgren: HERMIT OF MINK HOLLOW.
Jane Siberry: NO BORDERS HERE.
Triumvirat: SPARTACUS.
The Nice: WINTER TO SPRING.
ELP: TRILOGY, 1ST.
ELO: 2, ELDORADO, A NEW WORLD RECORD.
Passport: SKY BLUE.
Billy Cobham: TOTAL ECLIPSE.
Starcastle: FOUNTAINS OF LIGHT, CITADEL.
Kansas: MASQUE.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band: WATCH, NIGHTINGALES AND BOMBERS.
Dory Previn: MYTHICAL KINGS AND IGUANAS.
Wishbone Ash: ARGUS.
Fripp and Summers: I ADVANCE MASKED, BEWITCHED.
Renaissance: TURN OF THE CARDS, SCHEHERAZADE, NOVELLA.
Flairck: VARIATIONS ON A LADY.
Automatic Man: VISITORS.
Alan Parsons Project: EYE IN THE SKY, AMMONIA AVENUE.
Jean-Michel Jarre: OXYGENE, EQUINOXE.
Journey: IN THE BEGINNING, LOOK INTO THE FUTURE.
Horslips: THE BOOK OF INVASIONS.
Synergy: CORDS.
Return to Forever: HYMN OF THE SEVENTH GALAXY.
Focus: MOVING WAVES.
Steve Hillage: L.
Rick Wakeman: KING ARTHUR, HENRY VIII, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, CRIMINAL RECORD.
...and there's more. All this listening-work is intended to help me finish that "Strange Music" book I've been working on for 20 years. We'll see how far I get....
I couldn't have piled up this stuff without the help of Tacoma's HALF-PRICE BOOKS' $1-or-less vinyl clearance bin, or the clearance section and other occasionally-cheap vinyl prices at Tacoma's HI-VOLTAGE record store. I recommend both of them, and also Port Orchard's NEW 2 YOU ANTIQUE MALL, Tacoma's GOLDEN OLDIES and the GOODWILL stores in Port Orchard and Silverdale. Also Port Townshend's QUIMPER SOUND. If you're in the Tacoma-Gig Harbor-Bremerton area, those stops will keep you busy for awhile. They still have stuff I wish I'd grabbed that I now want to go back and pick up.
More soon....
Monday, December 5, 2016
Lately
Thinking of starting a new blog for music fans with short attention spans. Like me. If I do it, I'll let you know. Suddenly I'm dying to write a bunch of SHORT reviews of albums I've got here in the house, reviews that cut through all the BS. Maybe I'll try a couple of experiments here.
Books first:
Legs McNeil and Gillian McCann's PLEASE KILL ME (1996) -- An oral history of Punk Rock, amusing and involving, and I read the whole thing (sort of from the middle outward) and had a good time. Some truly appalling and hilarious behavior detailed inside. But it wasn't really my scene. Still think somebody should compile an oral history of progressive rock, and then we could see if the behavior by musicians a generation earlier was any worse. (I think it was probably just as bad, they just didn't ANNOUNCE it.)
Bill Martin's MUSIC OF YES (1996) -- Proves that it's way possible to THINK TOO MUCH about this stuff. Martin's a professor and a guitarist, and he's pretty solid on Yes's early days (when they were way more interesting covering other people's songs than doing their own) and their "main sequence" of albums in the '70s. But man does he take their work WAY too seriously. He hardly seems to know how to react when the band cracks a joke -- like they did on the title track of GOING FOR THE ONE. But what was TORMATO if not a comedy album?
Martin seems to think Yes were being absolutely sincere all the time -- when they were at their best. He seems to think their lyrics actually support a "philosophy." He's the second commentator I've read who thinks "Yours is No Disgrace" is a Vietnam War protest.
I think Yes at their best is like sound-painting -- not that far removed from the Roger Dean artworks that have adorned their album covers. Really good mood music that paints pretty landscapes in your head, but not so much to think about. And certainly not as deeply as here.
Chris Welch's CLOSE TO THE EDGE: THE STORY OF YES (1999/2008) -- Will likely tell you more about the band than you ever wanted to know, especially about the comings and goings of various band members. The best, most revealing comments in the book come from former drummer Bill Bruford. If you want to know what being a member of Yes was like, read Bruford's great AUTOBIOGRAPHY instead.
Speaking of autobiographies, Rick Wakeman's FURTHER ADVENTURES OF A GRUMPY OLD ROCK STAR (2009) will tell you very little about Yes, but will fill you in on the kind of amusing troubles rock stars can get into during their careers. An hour or two of light reading, not quite as funny or fresh as Wakeman's first book, GRUMPY OLD ROCK STAR.
I've also been listening, in bits and pieces.
Spent a couple hours awhile back digging through Tacoma's Half-Price Books' tons of "clearance" albums for a dollar or less. Found lotsa stuff I'd either never heard or wanted back in the house. More trips planned for the future. Was bummed to find lots of old Moody Blues and Al Stewart albums in the cheapies. I assume people must have outgrown them. But it also did my heart good to see lots of old Loverboy albums there....
Solution: CORDON BLEU (1975) -- A Dutch or German jazz-rock band on Elton John's Rocket Records label. Very nice sax and keyboards -- they also sing, not as impressively. Best on long instrumentals. Could be a keeper.
Automatic Man: (first album) (1976) -- Dramatic vocal jazz-rock, lots of show-offy playing, leaning towards stadium-rock. Not sure about the singing and lyrics yet.
Be-Bop Deluxe: "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape" from LIVE! IN THE AIR AGE (1977) -- The words go right through me, but the guitar and keyboard solos are gorgeous. Gonna havta play the rest at some point, though I already know most of the other songs from studio albums....
Phil Manzanera and 801: LISTEN NOW (1978) -- Disappointing. All this talent, and all they could come up with was lame, limping disco take-offs? An all-star cast (Eno, Francis Monkman, Mel Collins, Godley and Creme, Eddie Jobson, Tim Finn, Dave Mattacks, Simon Phillips) and I haven't found any decent tunes, let alone any flashy guitar. And ROLLING STONE called them something like "the ultimate art-rock group" at the time....
Styx: "Why Me?" from CORNERSTONE (1979) -- Guilty Pleasures Department. We all have our "things." I bought a cheap copy of PIECES OF EIGHT, too....
Kate and Anna McGarrigle: (first album), (1975) -- Oh, I dunno. Seems kinda simple, even though Joe Boyd produced. Cool, distant north-country voices. "Kiss and Say Goodbye" has one cute line in it. I've been trying to figure out why Linda Ronstadt covered "Heart Like a Wheel." I'll havta get back to this....
Tim Buckley: HAPPY SAD (1970) -- His voice is deeper than I expected, somehow. "Love From Room 109 at the Islander" is certainly interesting. Makes for a pretty quick 11 minutes....
Rick Wakeman: CRIMINAL RECORD (1977) -- "The Breathalyzer" is still cute. But I couldn't make it more than three minutes into "Judas Iscariot"....
Electric Light Orchestra: "Confusion" from DISCOVERY (1979) -- I've always been a sucker for this, and for them. Second side's pretty solid.
Pete Townshend: "Zelda" and "Melancholia" from SCOOP (1983). Why weren't these on Pete's best-of?
Paul Winter: COMMON GROUND (1978) -- I swear this album has some sort of hypnotic, pounding tribal-drum piece on it somewhere. But I can't find it now and may never find it again.... The version of "Icarus" here sounds kind of thin to me....
Ry Cooder: "Fool for a Cigarette/Feelin' Good" from PARADISE AND LUNCH (1974). As a non-smoker, I find this hilarious.
Jayhawks -- RAINY DAY MUSIC (2003) -- Bought this after it played at one of my favorite CD stores, Tacoma's HI-VOLTAGE (good CD prices, some OUTRAGEOUS vinyl prices). Nice sorta country-folky-Eagles sound. Was impressed with the first seven songs and have yet to play the rest....
Argent: HOLD YOUR HEAD UP sampler (2000) -- Some nice bits and pieces here, pleasant enough without ever getting to stunning, still makes me think I should investigate them further.
Genesis: "Supper's Ready" from THE PLATINUM COLLECTION (2006) -- Not bad, kinda primitive, thin production, though the keyboards and guitars sound just like they do on the only other version of this I've ever heard, from SECONDS OUT with Phil Collins singing. I'm getting used to Peter Gabriel's voice. Wonder why they didn't remix this?
David Bowie: "John I'm Only Dancing" from CHANGESBOWIE (1990). Hmmm. He is a strange one, isn't he?
Yes: "Changes" from 90125 (1983) -- Probably my favorite "later" Yes song, nice mix of Trevor Rabin and Jon Anderson vocals and good drama.
Mum: SING ALONG TO SONGS YOU DON'T KNOW. Hmmm, this is not at all what I expected. I thought they were some kind of Icelandic choral group. This seems kind of low-key and primitive, though it's lightly pleasant....
Hollies: "King Midas in Reverse" from GREATEST HITS. I think it's funny, I love the melodramatic lyrics, and my girlfriend can't take the keening vocals.
Peter Gabriel: "Come Talk to Me" from US (1992) -- Reportedly written to his estranged daughter, this is full of drama and martial guitar, keybs and bagpipes -- the emotional open-heart-surgery I expected. Right up there with PG's devastating "Family Snapshot" for me.
...An album I passed by at a local Goodwill -- Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll's OPEN -- I now see is selling for $300 at Amazon....
More eventually....
Books first:
Legs McNeil and Gillian McCann's PLEASE KILL ME (1996) -- An oral history of Punk Rock, amusing and involving, and I read the whole thing (sort of from the middle outward) and had a good time. Some truly appalling and hilarious behavior detailed inside. But it wasn't really my scene. Still think somebody should compile an oral history of progressive rock, and then we could see if the behavior by musicians a generation earlier was any worse. (I think it was probably just as bad, they just didn't ANNOUNCE it.)
Bill Martin's MUSIC OF YES (1996) -- Proves that it's way possible to THINK TOO MUCH about this stuff. Martin's a professor and a guitarist, and he's pretty solid on Yes's early days (when they were way more interesting covering other people's songs than doing their own) and their "main sequence" of albums in the '70s. But man does he take their work WAY too seriously. He hardly seems to know how to react when the band cracks a joke -- like they did on the title track of GOING FOR THE ONE. But what was TORMATO if not a comedy album?
Martin seems to think Yes were being absolutely sincere all the time -- when they were at their best. He seems to think their lyrics actually support a "philosophy." He's the second commentator I've read who thinks "Yours is No Disgrace" is a Vietnam War protest.
I think Yes at their best is like sound-painting -- not that far removed from the Roger Dean artworks that have adorned their album covers. Really good mood music that paints pretty landscapes in your head, but not so much to think about. And certainly not as deeply as here.
Chris Welch's CLOSE TO THE EDGE: THE STORY OF YES (1999/2008) -- Will likely tell you more about the band than you ever wanted to know, especially about the comings and goings of various band members. The best, most revealing comments in the book come from former drummer Bill Bruford. If you want to know what being a member of Yes was like, read Bruford's great AUTOBIOGRAPHY instead.
Speaking of autobiographies, Rick Wakeman's FURTHER ADVENTURES OF A GRUMPY OLD ROCK STAR (2009) will tell you very little about Yes, but will fill you in on the kind of amusing troubles rock stars can get into during their careers. An hour or two of light reading, not quite as funny or fresh as Wakeman's first book, GRUMPY OLD ROCK STAR.
I've also been listening, in bits and pieces.
Spent a couple hours awhile back digging through Tacoma's Half-Price Books' tons of "clearance" albums for a dollar or less. Found lotsa stuff I'd either never heard or wanted back in the house. More trips planned for the future. Was bummed to find lots of old Moody Blues and Al Stewart albums in the cheapies. I assume people must have outgrown them. But it also did my heart good to see lots of old Loverboy albums there....
Solution: CORDON BLEU (1975) -- A Dutch or German jazz-rock band on Elton John's Rocket Records label. Very nice sax and keyboards -- they also sing, not as impressively. Best on long instrumentals. Could be a keeper.
Automatic Man: (first album) (1976) -- Dramatic vocal jazz-rock, lots of show-offy playing, leaning towards stadium-rock. Not sure about the singing and lyrics yet.
Be-Bop Deluxe: "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape" from LIVE! IN THE AIR AGE (1977) -- The words go right through me, but the guitar and keyboard solos are gorgeous. Gonna havta play the rest at some point, though I already know most of the other songs from studio albums....
Phil Manzanera and 801: LISTEN NOW (1978) -- Disappointing. All this talent, and all they could come up with was lame, limping disco take-offs? An all-star cast (Eno, Francis Monkman, Mel Collins, Godley and Creme, Eddie Jobson, Tim Finn, Dave Mattacks, Simon Phillips) and I haven't found any decent tunes, let alone any flashy guitar. And ROLLING STONE called them something like "the ultimate art-rock group" at the time....
Styx: "Why Me?" from CORNERSTONE (1979) -- Guilty Pleasures Department. We all have our "things." I bought a cheap copy of PIECES OF EIGHT, too....
Kate and Anna McGarrigle: (first album), (1975) -- Oh, I dunno. Seems kinda simple, even though Joe Boyd produced. Cool, distant north-country voices. "Kiss and Say Goodbye" has one cute line in it. I've been trying to figure out why Linda Ronstadt covered "Heart Like a Wheel." I'll havta get back to this....
Tim Buckley: HAPPY SAD (1970) -- His voice is deeper than I expected, somehow. "Love From Room 109 at the Islander" is certainly interesting. Makes for a pretty quick 11 minutes....
Rick Wakeman: CRIMINAL RECORD (1977) -- "The Breathalyzer" is still cute. But I couldn't make it more than three minutes into "Judas Iscariot"....
Electric Light Orchestra: "Confusion" from DISCOVERY (1979) -- I've always been a sucker for this, and for them. Second side's pretty solid.
Pete Townshend: "Zelda" and "Melancholia" from SCOOP (1983). Why weren't these on Pete's best-of?
Paul Winter: COMMON GROUND (1978) -- I swear this album has some sort of hypnotic, pounding tribal-drum piece on it somewhere. But I can't find it now and may never find it again.... The version of "Icarus" here sounds kind of thin to me....
Ry Cooder: "Fool for a Cigarette/Feelin' Good" from PARADISE AND LUNCH (1974). As a non-smoker, I find this hilarious.
Jayhawks -- RAINY DAY MUSIC (2003) -- Bought this after it played at one of my favorite CD stores, Tacoma's HI-VOLTAGE (good CD prices, some OUTRAGEOUS vinyl prices). Nice sorta country-folky-Eagles sound. Was impressed with the first seven songs and have yet to play the rest....
Argent: HOLD YOUR HEAD UP sampler (2000) -- Some nice bits and pieces here, pleasant enough without ever getting to stunning, still makes me think I should investigate them further.
Genesis: "Supper's Ready" from THE PLATINUM COLLECTION (2006) -- Not bad, kinda primitive, thin production, though the keyboards and guitars sound just like they do on the only other version of this I've ever heard, from SECONDS OUT with Phil Collins singing. I'm getting used to Peter Gabriel's voice. Wonder why they didn't remix this?
David Bowie: "John I'm Only Dancing" from CHANGESBOWIE (1990). Hmmm. He is a strange one, isn't he?
Yes: "Changes" from 90125 (1983) -- Probably my favorite "later" Yes song, nice mix of Trevor Rabin and Jon Anderson vocals and good drama.
Mum: SING ALONG TO SONGS YOU DON'T KNOW. Hmmm, this is not at all what I expected. I thought they were some kind of Icelandic choral group. This seems kind of low-key and primitive, though it's lightly pleasant....
Hollies: "King Midas in Reverse" from GREATEST HITS. I think it's funny, I love the melodramatic lyrics, and my girlfriend can't take the keening vocals.
Peter Gabriel: "Come Talk to Me" from US (1992) -- Reportedly written to his estranged daughter, this is full of drama and martial guitar, keybs and bagpipes -- the emotional open-heart-surgery I expected. Right up there with PG's devastating "Family Snapshot" for me.
...An album I passed by at a local Goodwill -- Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll's OPEN -- I now see is selling for $300 at Amazon....
More eventually....
Monday, April 25, 2016
Mopping up
PRINCE: Well, how 'bout him? He did some great stuff, though I wasn't that big a fan back in the day.
I played "Purple Rain" a couple times at work last Friday night. The first time through I got all sad and nostalgic, but the second time was pure exaltation. It always was a gorgeous song. And that guitar riff at the end keeps going round and round in my head....
I always loved "1999," too. "Kiss" and "When Doves Cry" have grown on me over the years. "Sometimes it Snows in April" is a nice low-key piece off of PARADE. "Anotherloverholeinyohead" is interesting, too, also from PARADE, sort of an echo of "When Doves Cry." Some of Prince's more sexually-oriented stuff was just too in-your-face for me, and I don't think I even HEARD him after about 1989....
I heard "I Wanna be Your Lover" for the first time EVER on the radio last Saturday night (it came out in like 1978), and it sounded good, cute, solid. The guy was obviously meant for bigger things. He had a great few years there, from '81 through about '86 or so.
This has sure been a bad year for musicians. Keith Emerson and Paul Kantner were the ones that hit me hardest, but this one was also a shock. No more for awhile, OK? (Sorry, no breaks -- blues guitarist Lonnie Mack died this past week, too. KPLU's "All Blues" ran one of Mack's songs, "Stop," which is pretty freakin' great....)
GOOD NEWS FOR SEATTLE-AREA ROCK FANS: "Little Steven's Underground Garage" is back, starting at 11 p.m. Pacific Time Sundays on KZOK-FM 102.5 (I assume they also stream over the Internet). In the three weeks they've been back around, Steven and friends have done a two-part salute to The British Invasion that included great stuff by second-tier bands like The Searchers, The Pretty Things and Creation, and a salute to The Ramones -- in the middle of which up popped The Ronettes' great "The Best Part of Breakin' Up." Steven didn't understand why that song only peaked at Number 39, either....
CHECK YOUR GOODWILLS!: In the past month-plus I've found an amazing amount of good CHEAP music and books at my four area Goodwill stores. The books would make too long a list, but the CD's I've bought (or at least seen) include half a dozen Beatles albums (ABBEY ROAD, WHITE ALBUM, SGT. PEPPER, REVOLVER, HELP!, PLEASE PLEASE ME, MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR), Van Morrison's MOONDANCE, ASTRAL WEEKS and BEST OF, Moody Blues' DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED, Todd Rundgren's SOMETHING/ANYTHING?, Al Green best-of, lots of later Bob Dylan, a brand-new solid eight-CD set of early-'60s folk music for a ridiculously low price, lots of various-artists hit-singles collections, TONS of '60s and '70s jazz (Miles, Coltrane, Mingus, etc.), some earlier jazz (Ellington, Louis Armstrong, etc.), Can's CANNIBALISM 1 best-of (how the HELL did that get here?), Prince's PURPLE RAIN and ULTIMATE best-of, RAMONESMANIA best-of, Sex Pistols' NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, Clash's LONDON CALLING, Dave Edmunds' best-of, Rolling Stones' FORTY LICKS best-of and EXILE ON MAIN STREET, Santana best-of, lots of later Pat Metheny, and a whole lot more.
Course the vinyl bins are worthless -- that's all Jim Nabors and Ray Conniff, with only a VERY rare surprise....
I try to give my area stores at least a week to re-stock, and then I go hit 'em again. It seems to be all about the timing. Lately it's sure been paying off. If you're on a tight budget, you might want to check your local Goodwills out. They're practically GIVING this stuff away. But you probably already know this....
TELL ALL: Spent most of this past week re-reading former major-league pitcher Jim Bouton's excellent BALL FOUR (1970), which I seem to re-read about once every 20 years and get more out of each time. It's a hilarious, quick, easy read. And I'm not that big a baseball fan....
The first of the "tell-all" sports books, BALL FOUR was revolutionary because it treated professional baseball players not as the stainless All-American heroes they'd been held up as in the '60s and before, but as real men: They chased women, drank, partied, used performance-enhancing drugs, worried about their careers, didn't get paid enough (back in the stone age), had marriage and family problems, didn't always get along with each other, played hideous practical jokes on each other, and basically behaved with all the maturity you see at your average local high school. What a bunch of characters....
The baseball establishment was shocked, and more sports-tell-all books followed. Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn asked Bouton to sign a statement saying that he made the whole thing up. Bouton refused, and instead wrote a sequel, I'M GLAD YOU DIDN'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY. I'd like to find another copy of that, now. It's been years since I read it....
I played "Purple Rain" a couple times at work last Friday night. The first time through I got all sad and nostalgic, but the second time was pure exaltation. It always was a gorgeous song. And that guitar riff at the end keeps going round and round in my head....
I always loved "1999," too. "Kiss" and "When Doves Cry" have grown on me over the years. "Sometimes it Snows in April" is a nice low-key piece off of PARADE. "Anotherloverholeinyohead" is interesting, too, also from PARADE, sort of an echo of "When Doves Cry." Some of Prince's more sexually-oriented stuff was just too in-your-face for me, and I don't think I even HEARD him after about 1989....
I heard "I Wanna be Your Lover" for the first time EVER on the radio last Saturday night (it came out in like 1978), and it sounded good, cute, solid. The guy was obviously meant for bigger things. He had a great few years there, from '81 through about '86 or so.
This has sure been a bad year for musicians. Keith Emerson and Paul Kantner were the ones that hit me hardest, but this one was also a shock. No more for awhile, OK? (Sorry, no breaks -- blues guitarist Lonnie Mack died this past week, too. KPLU's "All Blues" ran one of Mack's songs, "Stop," which is pretty freakin' great....)
GOOD NEWS FOR SEATTLE-AREA ROCK FANS: "Little Steven's Underground Garage" is back, starting at 11 p.m. Pacific Time Sundays on KZOK-FM 102.5 (I assume they also stream over the Internet). In the three weeks they've been back around, Steven and friends have done a two-part salute to The British Invasion that included great stuff by second-tier bands like The Searchers, The Pretty Things and Creation, and a salute to The Ramones -- in the middle of which up popped The Ronettes' great "The Best Part of Breakin' Up." Steven didn't understand why that song only peaked at Number 39, either....
CHECK YOUR GOODWILLS!: In the past month-plus I've found an amazing amount of good CHEAP music and books at my four area Goodwill stores. The books would make too long a list, but the CD's I've bought (or at least seen) include half a dozen Beatles albums (ABBEY ROAD, WHITE ALBUM, SGT. PEPPER, REVOLVER, HELP!, PLEASE PLEASE ME, MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR), Van Morrison's MOONDANCE, ASTRAL WEEKS and BEST OF, Moody Blues' DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED, Todd Rundgren's SOMETHING/ANYTHING?, Al Green best-of, lots of later Bob Dylan, a brand-new solid eight-CD set of early-'60s folk music for a ridiculously low price, lots of various-artists hit-singles collections, TONS of '60s and '70s jazz (Miles, Coltrane, Mingus, etc.), some earlier jazz (Ellington, Louis Armstrong, etc.), Can's CANNIBALISM 1 best-of (how the HELL did that get here?), Prince's PURPLE RAIN and ULTIMATE best-of, RAMONESMANIA best-of, Sex Pistols' NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, Clash's LONDON CALLING, Dave Edmunds' best-of, Rolling Stones' FORTY LICKS best-of and EXILE ON MAIN STREET, Santana best-of, lots of later Pat Metheny, and a whole lot more.
Course the vinyl bins are worthless -- that's all Jim Nabors and Ray Conniff, with only a VERY rare surprise....
I try to give my area stores at least a week to re-stock, and then I go hit 'em again. It seems to be all about the timing. Lately it's sure been paying off. If you're on a tight budget, you might want to check your local Goodwills out. They're practically GIVING this stuff away. But you probably already know this....
TELL ALL: Spent most of this past week re-reading former major-league pitcher Jim Bouton's excellent BALL FOUR (1970), which I seem to re-read about once every 20 years and get more out of each time. It's a hilarious, quick, easy read. And I'm not that big a baseball fan....
The first of the "tell-all" sports books, BALL FOUR was revolutionary because it treated professional baseball players not as the stainless All-American heroes they'd been held up as in the '60s and before, but as real men: They chased women, drank, partied, used performance-enhancing drugs, worried about their careers, didn't get paid enough (back in the stone age), had marriage and family problems, didn't always get along with each other, played hideous practical jokes on each other, and basically behaved with all the maturity you see at your average local high school. What a bunch of characters....
The baseball establishment was shocked, and more sports-tell-all books followed. Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn asked Bouton to sign a statement saying that he made the whole thing up. Bouton refused, and instead wrote a sequel, I'M GLAD YOU DIDN'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY. I'd like to find another copy of that, now. It's been years since I read it....
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Sell, sell, sell!
Money got tight, so on Monday I took four boxes of books and music to Half-Price Books in Tacoma. They took half the stuff I'd packed up and gave me $100, which I thought was pretty fair. I've got a little breathing room in my checking account now.
It's hard to predict what they will and won't take. I swore before I made the trip that I wouldn't sell anything I had an emotional attachment to -- no music that I'd miss later because it wouldn't be around to remind me of old friends, old times, good times.
After all that soul-searching, Half Price only took a little bit of the vinyl. I'm stumped on why they took ELO but left ELP, took a Can best-of (which you'd think would have fairly limited appeal, nothing personal) but left English-import albums by Caravan, Camel and Gentle Giant. They took The Headboys, but left Squeeze and The Jam. They took Heart, but left CCR and John Fogerty. They took the Dixie Dregs, but left a King Crimson best-of. They took almost all the travel-writing I couldn't get into last fall, but left short-story collections by Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg
They took almost all the CD's. They took ALL the rockstar memoirs I've given bad reviews to over the last month.
Not that I'm complaining. A year ago they paid me $160 for a pile of what I thought was mostly pretty dire stuff. So it all balances out.
Naturally, I didn't come home empty-handed. I grabbed a new edition of THE PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ, which I first fell in love with when I grabbed a previous edition at Half-Price back in 2008. This new version is -- good God! -- TWICE as big as the old edition. And I'm sure there's more great criticism and more hilarious jokes.
I grabbed science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick's EXEGESIS and have already started it. It's a monster. On Page 21, he takes a pretty good shot at describing what happened to him back in early 1974, when he started seeing funny colored lights and started dreaming in Greek. At first he thinks it's some ancient Greek trying to communicate with him. Then he thinks it's his late friend Episcopal Bishop Jim Pike trying to communicate from The Other Side. Then Dick thinks he might have been contacted by some Vast Autonomous Living Intelligence System transmitting from space. And all through it, he's cracking jokes.
God knows if I'll finish it. I've already started skimming and skipping things. But what a story.
I hit the Clearance section and brought home Joe Queenan's CONFESSIONS OF A CINEPLEX HECKLER (2000), a couple dozen articles about movies, only $2. Queenan writes for MOVIELINE magazine.
These aren't really movie reviews -- well, a couple are, and one's a brief book review of a Hollywood producer's memoir. The rest are silly articles about films and some of the BS around them -- how Hollywood presents views of life that have nothing to do with reality; how many ears have been severed in a decade of Hollywood films; how many Merchant-Ivory movies can Queenan watch before his brain turns to Swiss cheese, etc.
In two pieces entitled "Don't Try This at Home," Queenan proves some things done in movies simply can't be done in reality. He dunks himself in cold Atlantic waters to prove Leonardo DiCaprio couldn't have done a five-minute monologue near the end of TITANIC -- he would've been dead in two minutes. (Queenan lasts less than 30 seconds.)
But Queenan IS able to walk through busy Manhattan traffic while wearing dark glasses and pretending to be blind, like Al Pacino did in SCENT OF A WOMAN. Taxis don't run over Queenan -- possibly a first for NYC.
I don't recommend reading this book in one sitting, like I basically did. Though it's funny, the humor tends to wear out. Queenan tends to pick on the same movies over and over, and his stories tend to repeat themselves in structure and punch lines. So read one essay a day for the next few weeks and you'll be happier than I was. I wish the book had been funnier.
But for $2, I'm not complaining.
It's hard to predict what they will and won't take. I swore before I made the trip that I wouldn't sell anything I had an emotional attachment to -- no music that I'd miss later because it wouldn't be around to remind me of old friends, old times, good times.
After all that soul-searching, Half Price only took a little bit of the vinyl. I'm stumped on why they took ELO but left ELP, took a Can best-of (which you'd think would have fairly limited appeal, nothing personal) but left English-import albums by Caravan, Camel and Gentle Giant. They took The Headboys, but left Squeeze and The Jam. They took Heart, but left CCR and John Fogerty. They took the Dixie Dregs, but left a King Crimson best-of. They took almost all the travel-writing I couldn't get into last fall, but left short-story collections by Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg
They took almost all the CD's. They took ALL the rockstar memoirs I've given bad reviews to over the last month.
Not that I'm complaining. A year ago they paid me $160 for a pile of what I thought was mostly pretty dire stuff. So it all balances out.
Naturally, I didn't come home empty-handed. I grabbed a new edition of THE PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ, which I first fell in love with when I grabbed a previous edition at Half-Price back in 2008. This new version is -- good God! -- TWICE as big as the old edition. And I'm sure there's more great criticism and more hilarious jokes.
I grabbed science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick's EXEGESIS and have already started it. It's a monster. On Page 21, he takes a pretty good shot at describing what happened to him back in early 1974, when he started seeing funny colored lights and started dreaming in Greek. At first he thinks it's some ancient Greek trying to communicate with him. Then he thinks it's his late friend Episcopal Bishop Jim Pike trying to communicate from The Other Side. Then Dick thinks he might have been contacted by some Vast Autonomous Living Intelligence System transmitting from space. And all through it, he's cracking jokes.
God knows if I'll finish it. I've already started skimming and skipping things. But what a story.
I hit the Clearance section and brought home Joe Queenan's CONFESSIONS OF A CINEPLEX HECKLER (2000), a couple dozen articles about movies, only $2. Queenan writes for MOVIELINE magazine.
These aren't really movie reviews -- well, a couple are, and one's a brief book review of a Hollywood producer's memoir. The rest are silly articles about films and some of the BS around them -- how Hollywood presents views of life that have nothing to do with reality; how many ears have been severed in a decade of Hollywood films; how many Merchant-Ivory movies can Queenan watch before his brain turns to Swiss cheese, etc.
In two pieces entitled "Don't Try This at Home," Queenan proves some things done in movies simply can't be done in reality. He dunks himself in cold Atlantic waters to prove Leonardo DiCaprio couldn't have done a five-minute monologue near the end of TITANIC -- he would've been dead in two minutes. (Queenan lasts less than 30 seconds.)
But Queenan IS able to walk through busy Manhattan traffic while wearing dark glasses and pretending to be blind, like Al Pacino did in SCENT OF A WOMAN. Taxis don't run over Queenan -- possibly a first for NYC.
I don't recommend reading this book in one sitting, like I basically did. Though it's funny, the humor tends to wear out. Queenan tends to pick on the same movies over and over, and his stories tend to repeat themselves in structure and punch lines. So read one essay a day for the next few weeks and you'll be happier than I was. I wish the book had been funnier.
But for $2, I'm not complaining.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Notes from the bookstore, etc.
Thank Ghod for the folks at Half-Price Books in Tacoma. I took five huge boxes of music and books to them on Tuesday, figuring I might get $50 from them, maybe $75 if they were generous.
They gave me $160 -- enough for me to pay my roommate the rent money he expected, grab a couple cheap books to bring home (two travel books by Paul Theroux), and crawl through the rest of this week until payday arrives again.
I told the Half Price folks they were wonderful -- they probably wondered what kind of meds I was on.
It's possible I might miss some of what I took in -- but most of it was music I couldn't get into, vinyl I had duplicated on CD, books I couldn't get into, or that I'd read once and liked but probably would never have time to re-read -- life's too short now and I've got my own stuff to do.
I might miss some of the music -- Gong, Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Strawbs, Dixie Dregs, Return to Forever, etc. But hey -- if it don't work for you, there's no point forcing it, right? So.
I'm already thinking there's more stuff in the house I might be able to sell.
And my painting/cleanup job starts on Monday. If I survive, it should be good for an extra $60 a week for four hours of work.
I might not starve yet.
93 crazy people grabbed copies of my record-store-memoir e-book GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC! while it was available free last week. Ghod bless you all. I didn't get rich doing this, but I hope y'all might take a chance on the NEXT one....
Work continues on my newspaper novel, THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Am still writing a couple of new scenes each day. Am now to the point where I am streamlining the plot and reading through my "framework" for novelization purposes. Anybody Out There who survived reading my newspaper memoir THE CONFESSOR will probably recognize some of the situations -- but this version is funnier. And a lot of it's brand new.
I'll keep you posted -- I'd like to have the new book done by Aug. 21 so I can say I wrote four e-books in a year, but that might be rushing it. Should at least have something fun to read by the fall.
More soon....
They gave me $160 -- enough for me to pay my roommate the rent money he expected, grab a couple cheap books to bring home (two travel books by Paul Theroux), and crawl through the rest of this week until payday arrives again.
I told the Half Price folks they were wonderful -- they probably wondered what kind of meds I was on.
It's possible I might miss some of what I took in -- but most of it was music I couldn't get into, vinyl I had duplicated on CD, books I couldn't get into, or that I'd read once and liked but probably would never have time to re-read -- life's too short now and I've got my own stuff to do.
I might miss some of the music -- Gong, Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Strawbs, Dixie Dregs, Return to Forever, etc. But hey -- if it don't work for you, there's no point forcing it, right? So.
I'm already thinking there's more stuff in the house I might be able to sell.
And my painting/cleanup job starts on Monday. If I survive, it should be good for an extra $60 a week for four hours of work.
I might not starve yet.
93 crazy people grabbed copies of my record-store-memoir e-book GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC! while it was available free last week. Ghod bless you all. I didn't get rich doing this, but I hope y'all might take a chance on the NEXT one....
Work continues on my newspaper novel, THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Am still writing a couple of new scenes each day. Am now to the point where I am streamlining the plot and reading through my "framework" for novelization purposes. Anybody Out There who survived reading my newspaper memoir THE CONFESSOR will probably recognize some of the situations -- but this version is funnier. And a lot of it's brand new.
I'll keep you posted -- I'd like to have the new book done by Aug. 21 so I can say I wrote four e-books in a year, but that might be rushing it. Should at least have something fun to read by the fall.
More soon....
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Broke/Hot
Hey there. Writing this at work, so can't stay long.
Am as broke now as I've been in months -- the 10 hours per month I've been cut back at work is really starting to bite.
So, over past couple days have been piling up music and books to take to Half-Price Books in Tacoma for some cash. I haven't been there in five years, so I'm overdue -- if they're still in business. I'm thinking maybe they'll give me $50 or maybe $75 for the two HUGE boxes of stuff, and I'll be a little ahead of the bills. Sorry to whine. Right now I can't even afford the $4 to get over the toll bridge....
Most of the stuff that's going is books I've never successfully gotten into or will probably never read -- and lots of music I've repeatedly tried to get into with no luck: Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin solo, some Weather Report, some Return to Forever, Gong, early Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, some Spirit, Brand X, some King Crimson vinyl that I also have on CD, other odds and ends and some beat-up old stuff.
If this slows down my plans for a Strange Music Guide, ah well -- I'm not making very quick progress on it anyway, and I need the bucks.
Course there's always a chance something at Half Price will catch my eye, and if so I'll report on it here. I've never had much self-discipline....
It's HOT here -- supposed to be 90 or over this weekend into next week. That's hot for western Washington. My apologies to you out there who are suffering 100-degree-plus temperatures. As humid as it gets here, we might as well be over 100. Best part of coming to work these days is the air conditioning -- which is miraculously still working....
I owe another steak dinner to 2000 Man, who gave a four-star review to my GAS NAZI! e-book at Amazon.com's Kindle Store. It is so nice to know some people actually GET what I'm trying to do, or at least enjoy reading my fumblings....
Hope to get back to blogging more often here soon. All the best....
Am as broke now as I've been in months -- the 10 hours per month I've been cut back at work is really starting to bite.
So, over past couple days have been piling up music and books to take to Half-Price Books in Tacoma for some cash. I haven't been there in five years, so I'm overdue -- if they're still in business. I'm thinking maybe they'll give me $50 or maybe $75 for the two HUGE boxes of stuff, and I'll be a little ahead of the bills. Sorry to whine. Right now I can't even afford the $4 to get over the toll bridge....
Most of the stuff that's going is books I've never successfully gotten into or will probably never read -- and lots of music I've repeatedly tried to get into with no luck: Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin solo, some Weather Report, some Return to Forever, Gong, early Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, some Spirit, Brand X, some King Crimson vinyl that I also have on CD, other odds and ends and some beat-up old stuff.
If this slows down my plans for a Strange Music Guide, ah well -- I'm not making very quick progress on it anyway, and I need the bucks.
Course there's always a chance something at Half Price will catch my eye, and if so I'll report on it here. I've never had much self-discipline....
It's HOT here -- supposed to be 90 or over this weekend into next week. That's hot for western Washington. My apologies to you out there who are suffering 100-degree-plus temperatures. As humid as it gets here, we might as well be over 100. Best part of coming to work these days is the air conditioning -- which is miraculously still working....
I owe another steak dinner to 2000 Man, who gave a four-star review to my GAS NAZI! e-book at Amazon.com's Kindle Store. It is so nice to know some people actually GET what I'm trying to do, or at least enjoy reading my fumblings....
Hope to get back to blogging more often here soon. All the best....
Sunday, November 17, 2013
#724: A few new additions....
Hey there. Been doing most of my on-line writing lately over at Guaranteed Great Music!, where there are 4 posts up so far with more coming soon.
Posts so far include a little bit about my book, some of the stuff I forgot to get into the book, a dozen items I somehow left out of the playlist/discography that goes with the book, and one album review (of The Shoes' great PRESENT TENSE). Coming soon will be reviews of albums by Split Enz, Spider, The Records, The Headboys, Tarney/Spencer Band, New England, Grace Slick, Group 87, Sky, and many more overlooked albums from back in the day.
As of 17 November, 39 folks have picked up free copies of RECORD STORE DAZE, my 20-page detailed record-store-era playlist, and that's flattering. But only three folks have bought copies of my 190-page record-store memoir GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC!, which I think is the more important part. If you think the playlist is intriguing, please check out the real book, available now at Amazon.com's Kindle Store for a measly $2.99 -- where you'll get the stories BEHIND the playlist....
I'm already started on my next book, which I hope will be a longer memoir about the 20 years I wasted in the newspaper-reporting business. I'm already 4,000 words into it, and I'm aiming to call it THE CONFESSOR. I'll keep you posted....
Meanwhile, on my last "weekend," I hit my favorite local second-hand store, Jen's Attic in Bremerton, and scooped up a few things. On vinyl I grabbed Cream's HEAVY CREAM best-of (so I can hear "Deserted Cities of the Heart" and "Those Were the Days" again -- and "Badge," of course), Dave Edmunds' TWANGIN', Teena Marie's STARCHILD (is this her album with all the heavy guitars on it? Hope so), and Van Morrison's SAINT DOMINIC'S PREVIEW.
Looked at Lou Reed's NEW YORK so I could get some idea what all the fuss about him was, but it was warped BAD. So he'll have to wait 'til later.
Haven't had a chance to test-out any of these yet.
On CD I was able to score some stuff I've wanted to get in the house for years, like the Eagles' "Outlaw Man" and Paula Abdul's "Blowing Kisses in the Wind." Hadn't heard "Outlaw Man" since about 1974, and it still sounds great, not a letdown at all. And I don't even like the Eagles much....
Also grabbed Split Enz's HISTORY NEVER REPEATS best-of, for the title song and "Hard Act to Follow," "Six Months in a Leaky Boat," "Message to My Girl," "I Hope I Never," and the cosmically silly classic "Poor Boy."
Also bagged Don Henley's ACTUAL MILES best-of, mainly for "The Heart of the Matter," which strikes me as the most human thing he's ever done. Though it's a little long, I love The Message. Always was a sucker for his "Boys of Summer." And when I'm in a really grumpy mood I almost like "Dirty Laundry," the theme song for reporters and former-reporters all over the world. Other than those, I never liked Henley that much....
Also: Bruce Springsteen's best-of, for "Brilliant Disguise" and "Born to Run" of course, and "Born in the USA" and "Dancing in the Dark." Just one question: Why isn't the marvelous "Rosalita" on here?
Oh, also grabbed ... SOME old Garth Brooks CD, just so I can hear the great "Ireland" again.
I've been inflicting all of these on customers at work ever since. Junior Walker and Booker T and the Temptations and Stevie Wonder and old Motown hits are still working too, and getting good responses from customers. Plus they keep me moving on nights when I'm draggin', which is most nights....
Hey, my thanks to Crabby, who put up a link to my e-book at his blog, RS Crabb's Music Review and Top Ten Site. Crabby has been one of my most-regularist readers and commenters since back in the day, and you should be reading him if you aren't already. Thanx, Crabbster!
Have a new post for THE GAS NAZI! about half-written in my head, so that should be coming along in the next day or so....
...So, if I'm not around here I'll be busy posting overlooked 1979-1981 music greats over at Guaranteed Great Music!, or working on my next book. I've discovered that this book-izing stuff is as obsessive as blogging -- even if it's not as fast or as immediately gratifying. Too bad I wasted so many years before I figured this out....
I'm not done here. I'll be around. So until next time, be good to yourself and grab a copy of GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC!, would 'ya? Help a feeble old man gather some funds for his fast-approaching Retirement....
Posts so far include a little bit about my book, some of the stuff I forgot to get into the book, a dozen items I somehow left out of the playlist/discography that goes with the book, and one album review (of The Shoes' great PRESENT TENSE). Coming soon will be reviews of albums by Split Enz, Spider, The Records, The Headboys, Tarney/Spencer Band, New England, Grace Slick, Group 87, Sky, and many more overlooked albums from back in the day.
As of 17 November, 39 folks have picked up free copies of RECORD STORE DAZE, my 20-page detailed record-store-era playlist, and that's flattering. But only three folks have bought copies of my 190-page record-store memoir GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC!, which I think is the more important part. If you think the playlist is intriguing, please check out the real book, available now at Amazon.com's Kindle Store for a measly $2.99 -- where you'll get the stories BEHIND the playlist....
I'm already started on my next book, which I hope will be a longer memoir about the 20 years I wasted in the newspaper-reporting business. I'm already 4,000 words into it, and I'm aiming to call it THE CONFESSOR. I'll keep you posted....
Meanwhile, on my last "weekend," I hit my favorite local second-hand store, Jen's Attic in Bremerton, and scooped up a few things. On vinyl I grabbed Cream's HEAVY CREAM best-of (so I can hear "Deserted Cities of the Heart" and "Those Were the Days" again -- and "Badge," of course), Dave Edmunds' TWANGIN', Teena Marie's STARCHILD (is this her album with all the heavy guitars on it? Hope so), and Van Morrison's SAINT DOMINIC'S PREVIEW.
Looked at Lou Reed's NEW YORK so I could get some idea what all the fuss about him was, but it was warped BAD. So he'll have to wait 'til later.
Haven't had a chance to test-out any of these yet.
On CD I was able to score some stuff I've wanted to get in the house for years, like the Eagles' "Outlaw Man" and Paula Abdul's "Blowing Kisses in the Wind." Hadn't heard "Outlaw Man" since about 1974, and it still sounds great, not a letdown at all. And I don't even like the Eagles much....
Also grabbed Split Enz's HISTORY NEVER REPEATS best-of, for the title song and "Hard Act to Follow," "Six Months in a Leaky Boat," "Message to My Girl," "I Hope I Never," and the cosmically silly classic "Poor Boy."
Also bagged Don Henley's ACTUAL MILES best-of, mainly for "The Heart of the Matter," which strikes me as the most human thing he's ever done. Though it's a little long, I love The Message. Always was a sucker for his "Boys of Summer." And when I'm in a really grumpy mood I almost like "Dirty Laundry," the theme song for reporters and former-reporters all over the world. Other than those, I never liked Henley that much....
Also: Bruce Springsteen's best-of, for "Brilliant Disguise" and "Born to Run" of course, and "Born in the USA" and "Dancing in the Dark." Just one question: Why isn't the marvelous "Rosalita" on here?
Oh, also grabbed ... SOME old Garth Brooks CD, just so I can hear the great "Ireland" again.
I've been inflicting all of these on customers at work ever since. Junior Walker and Booker T and the Temptations and Stevie Wonder and old Motown hits are still working too, and getting good responses from customers. Plus they keep me moving on nights when I'm draggin', which is most nights....
Hey, my thanks to Crabby, who put up a link to my e-book at his blog, RS Crabb's Music Review and Top Ten Site. Crabby has been one of my most-regularist readers and commenters since back in the day, and you should be reading him if you aren't already. Thanx, Crabbster!
Have a new post for THE GAS NAZI! about half-written in my head, so that should be coming along in the next day or so....
...So, if I'm not around here I'll be busy posting overlooked 1979-1981 music greats over at Guaranteed Great Music!, or working on my next book. I've discovered that this book-izing stuff is as obsessive as blogging -- even if it's not as fast or as immediately gratifying. Too bad I wasted so many years before I figured this out....
I'm not done here. I'll be around. So until next time, be good to yourself and grab a copy of GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC!, would 'ya? Help a feeble old man gather some funds for his fast-approaching Retirement....
Saturday, July 13, 2013
#694: It's only music
Is it possible to get completely bored with this stuff? I'm still listening to my Olde Favorites at work, but trying to vary it up a little, trying to dig out stuff I haven't heard in awhile. Whatever keeps me moving. Here's The List:
Bubble Puppy -- Hot Smoke and Sassafras.
Pat Metheny -- New Chatauqua.
John Miles -- Highfly.
George Harrison -- What is Life?
ELO -- Can't Get it Out of My Head.
Mamas and the Papas -- 12:30, California Dreaming.
The Who -- I'm the Face, Disguises, So Sad About Us, I Can't Reach You, I Can See for Miles, Armenia City in the Sky, Tattoo, Our Love Was, Sunrise, Little Billy, Dogs, Dreaming From the Waist (live), Call Me Lightning, Let's See Action, Long Live Rock, Naked Eye (live).
John Mellencamp -- Authority Song.
Lynyrd Skynyrd -- Tuesday's Gone.
Hall and Oates -- Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear the Voices).
Police -- Does Everyone Stare?, On Any Other Day.
Donovan -- Season of the Witch.
Marshall Tucker Band -- Heard it in a Love Song.
Delaney and Bonnie and Friends -- Only You Know and I Know.
Dion -- Ruby Baby.
Chicago -- Critic's Choice, In Terms of Two.
Kingston Trio -- Greenback Dollar.
Yardbirds -- Heart Full of Soul.
Steam -- Kiss Him Goodbye.
ELP -- Karn Evil 9 1st Impression (Parts 1&2).
Neil Diamond -- Crunchy Granola Suite, Walk on Water.
Cheap Trick -- Surrender, Voices.
Steve Tibbetts -- Ur.
The only one of these that got a Reaction from the Unsuspecting Public was Neil's "Crunchy Granola Suite," which had a woman in her 60s bouncing around & singing along with. I laughed & asked if she was familiar with the song & she said "Oh yes -- but I don't get why women my age think he's so hot...."
So we talked that one over, agreeing that when Neil was in his Weird Period in the early '70s he did some Great Stuff, & that his mid-'60s leather-jacket phase was pretty great too.
But she really threw me when she said the greatest concert she ever saw was by Nine Inch Nails. She agreed they were pretty intense & suggested I might want to listen more.... & considering I've hardly heard anything by them....
I'm about to sell-off 5 years' worth of CD's, albums & books that didn't quite work for me -- a big box & 3 bags worth of stuff headed for my nearest Half-Price Books (in Tacoma, about 30 miles away) on my next weekend -- hopefully to help me with a current ...*AHEM* ... cash-flow problem. Most of what's going is stuff that Just Didn't Work, stuff that wasn't bad but which I can live without, or items I have duplicates of on vinyl or CD. I don't expect to be bringing home any New Music -- I'm seriously in it for the cash -- but I'll keep you posted.
Going off in the pile are OK-but-not-great works by ELP, Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Soft Machine, Gong, etc., plus books I've decided I'll clearly never get around to reading -- or reading again. I go through these clear-the-decks phases every year or two, but it's been 5 years since I've had an excuse to visit Half-Price. I'm hoping it's worth the trip. I'm also kind of bummed that I apparently spent my money on The Wrong Stuff....
I am so bored musically right now that I started reading Kim Cooper & David Smay's BUBBLEGUM MUSIC IS THE NAKED TRUTH -- which actually has some real good solid info in it if you're a sucker for the Monkees, Partridge Family, Cowsills, Archies, old Buddah Records singles, or any other late-'60s/early-'70s silliness. But it's like I overdosed & had to put it down for awhile.
Continued with Hunter S. Thompson's massive collection of letters THE PROUD HIGHWAY, which includes letters from all the way back to his 1957 days in the Air Force -- a marriage that didn't last too long. At one point Thompson wrote to a friend that for some obvious reason "the Air Force and writers just don't see eye to eye. ... I'm one of many writers who come in, do their time, and then leave as soon as possible." Had no trouble relating to THAT, it had me laughing out loud. Maybe I just need to read about something OTHER than music for awhile....
Bubble Puppy -- Hot Smoke and Sassafras.
Pat Metheny -- New Chatauqua.
John Miles -- Highfly.
George Harrison -- What is Life?
ELO -- Can't Get it Out of My Head.
Mamas and the Papas -- 12:30, California Dreaming.
The Who -- I'm the Face, Disguises, So Sad About Us, I Can't Reach You, I Can See for Miles, Armenia City in the Sky, Tattoo, Our Love Was, Sunrise, Little Billy, Dogs, Dreaming From the Waist (live), Call Me Lightning, Let's See Action, Long Live Rock, Naked Eye (live).
John Mellencamp -- Authority Song.
Lynyrd Skynyrd -- Tuesday's Gone.
Hall and Oates -- Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear the Voices).
Police -- Does Everyone Stare?, On Any Other Day.
Donovan -- Season of the Witch.
Marshall Tucker Band -- Heard it in a Love Song.
Delaney and Bonnie and Friends -- Only You Know and I Know.
Dion -- Ruby Baby.
Chicago -- Critic's Choice, In Terms of Two.
Kingston Trio -- Greenback Dollar.
Yardbirds -- Heart Full of Soul.
Steam -- Kiss Him Goodbye.
ELP -- Karn Evil 9 1st Impression (Parts 1&2).
Neil Diamond -- Crunchy Granola Suite, Walk on Water.
Cheap Trick -- Surrender, Voices.
Steve Tibbetts -- Ur.
The only one of these that got a Reaction from the Unsuspecting Public was Neil's "Crunchy Granola Suite," which had a woman in her 60s bouncing around & singing along with. I laughed & asked if she was familiar with the song & she said "Oh yes -- but I don't get why women my age think he's so hot...."
So we talked that one over, agreeing that when Neil was in his Weird Period in the early '70s he did some Great Stuff, & that his mid-'60s leather-jacket phase was pretty great too.
But she really threw me when she said the greatest concert she ever saw was by Nine Inch Nails. She agreed they were pretty intense & suggested I might want to listen more.... & considering I've hardly heard anything by them....
I'm about to sell-off 5 years' worth of CD's, albums & books that didn't quite work for me -- a big box & 3 bags worth of stuff headed for my nearest Half-Price Books (in Tacoma, about 30 miles away) on my next weekend -- hopefully to help me with a current ...*AHEM* ... cash-flow problem. Most of what's going is stuff that Just Didn't Work, stuff that wasn't bad but which I can live without, or items I have duplicates of on vinyl or CD. I don't expect to be bringing home any New Music -- I'm seriously in it for the cash -- but I'll keep you posted.
Going off in the pile are OK-but-not-great works by ELP, Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Soft Machine, Gong, etc., plus books I've decided I'll clearly never get around to reading -- or reading again. I go through these clear-the-decks phases every year or two, but it's been 5 years since I've had an excuse to visit Half-Price. I'm hoping it's worth the trip. I'm also kind of bummed that I apparently spent my money on The Wrong Stuff....
I am so bored musically right now that I started reading Kim Cooper & David Smay's BUBBLEGUM MUSIC IS THE NAKED TRUTH -- which actually has some real good solid info in it if you're a sucker for the Monkees, Partridge Family, Cowsills, Archies, old Buddah Records singles, or any other late-'60s/early-'70s silliness. But it's like I overdosed & had to put it down for awhile.
Continued with Hunter S. Thompson's massive collection of letters THE PROUD HIGHWAY, which includes letters from all the way back to his 1957 days in the Air Force -- a marriage that didn't last too long. At one point Thompson wrote to a friend that for some obvious reason "the Air Force and writers just don't see eye to eye. ... I'm one of many writers who come in, do their time, and then leave as soon as possible." Had no trouble relating to THAT, it had me laughing out loud. Maybe I just need to read about something OTHER than music for awhile....
Monday, April 1, 2013
#648: Leftoverture
...No, this is not a review of the classic 1976 album by Kansas -- if you need me 2 urge you 2 check out that album at this late date, you really R in trouble. (But you really SHOULD check-out that album's songs "Miracles Out of Nowhere" & "Questions of My Childhood" & "Cheyenne Anthem" & "What's on My Mind" & "The Wall"....)
No, what this is instead is a collection of stuff I've been piling up 4 the last few weeks -- material that wasn't quite enuf 4 a post of its own. Here 'tis....
Hope you've been catching rock critics Jim deRogatis & Greg Kott's weekly music show SOUND OPINIONS on an open-minded radio station near you. (Here they're on the University of Washington's KUOW-FM, Sunday nites at 10 pm.) In recent weeks they've had a long interview with producer Tony Visconti -- who talked about how fast folks like David Bowie & Marc Bolan (of T. Rex) liked 2 work in the studio, & about spending 10 MONTHS in the studio with the Moody Blues recording THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE. They even talked a bit about Gentle Giant, who Visconti produced sevral early albums 4. Visconti also talked about his book: BOWIE, BOLAN AND THE BROOKLYN BOY, which sounds like a hoot -- anybody out there got a copy? I can't afford Amazon's prices -- I promise 2 review it here, drop me your address below....
Last nite, March 31, 2 celebrate the start of baseball season, Jim & Greg talked about artists who achieved "grand slams" -- 4 great studio albums in a row. You can imagine summa the names that were mentioned -- Led Zep, etc., & there were lotsa critic's babies: XTC, Husker Du, Blur, etc. -- but I was suprised at summa the names that WEREN'T mentioned. I was working, so I didn't hear EVERYTHING, but... They SAID they weren't gonna include Bob Dylan, the Stones, Roxy Music. But how bout the Beatles? (REVOLVER/SGT. PEPPER/WHITE ALBUM/ABBEY ROAD)? How bout Pink Floyd (DARK SIDE/WISH YOU WERE HERE/ANIMALS/THE WALL)? Or The Who (SELL OUT/TOMMY/WHO'S NEXT/QUADROPHENIA)? How bout Fleetwood Mac (FLEETWOOD MAC/RUMOURS/TUSK/MIRAGE)?
...& then they quoted rock critic Lester Bangs on how "all music today goes back to the Velvet Underground," & listed their 4 great albums. Well, maybe. Xcept 4 "All Tomorrow's Parties," I've never been much of a Velvets fan -- but Jim & Greg said especially the Velvets' 2nd album, WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT, thrilled them & terrified them when they were young, & they submit that's what great rock&roll SHOULD do.
Well, still a pretty great radio show. Lotsa critics' babies, but. I've learned a few things. & they're a great argument-starter. Check 'em out, if you haven't already, if they're on-air where you're at....
Was listening 2 Blondie's charming remake of Randy and the Rainbows' early-'60s hit "Denise" (Blondie's version is on their GREATEST HITS), when I started wondering when was the last time I heard the original played on the radio. 4 me, it was near Salt Lake City, Utah, early in 1998, driving thru a snowstorm.
& then I started thinking about how Oldies Radio has failed us all if great stuff like this is forgotten in favor of the same old publically-acceptable 200 Oldies hits that everybody plays over & over.
When's the last time you heard Timmy Thomas's "Why Can't We Live Together" on radio? Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar"? Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "House at Pooh Corner"? Fanny's "Charity Ball" or "Butter Boy"? Or 100 others I could probly rattle off if I took a few minutes 2 think about it?
Can somebody with some MEMORY & IMAGINATION take over a radio station somewhere? I'd tune in... daily.
"THE BUG 3" -- Bagged a few more items during a trip thru a Bremerton 2nd-hand store over the weekend:
Mott the Hoople -- MOTT.
Mary-Chapin Carpenter -- COME ON COME ON.
Peter Gabriel -- 3.
Dusty Springfield -- YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME.
Nino Tempo and April Stevens -- DEEP PURPLE.
Patrick Moraz -- I.
Three Dog Night -- HARMONY.
Trisha Yearwood -- SONGBOOK best-of.
Liz Phair -- EXILE IN GUYVILLE.
Carly Simon -- BEST OF.
...The Mott 2 replace a CD copy I foolishly traded-off 5 years ago. Gotta hear "All the Way from Memphis" & "Honaloochie Boogie" & "Violence" again ... The Mary-Chapin Carpenter is an olde favorite from the '90s, worth it all 4 "Passionate Kisses" & "The Hard Way" & the title song & a coupla others ... The Gabriel mainly 4 the heartbreaking "Family Snapshot" -- I'm sure I won't play it much, but it'll B good 2 have it around ... Dusty 4 the gorgeous melodramatic title song ... Nino & April 4 the foghorn-impression title song of course -- but mainly 4 the amazing B-side "I've Been Carrying a Torch for You So Long That I've Burned a Great Big Hole in My Heart" (I'm NOT making this up!), which is somewhere between a yodel & a field holler, something that coulda come from another planet ... The Moraz cos I loved his work with the Moodies & have always thot he was screwed out of a lotta credit 4 that band's comeback in the '80s ... The Dog 2 replace a copy I've foolishly traded off 2wice now ... The Yearwood 4 the country hits I can't stop singing along with ("She's in Love With the Boy," "Thinking About You," "X's and O's," "Wrong Side of Memphis") -- if "Woman Walk the Line" were on it, it'd B perfect ... Liz Phair cos she got rave reviews & all I've ever heard by her were a coupla middling hits a few years back, including the wonderful "Extraordinary" ... The Carly Simon mighta been a mistake. I've already got "Anticipation" on an old promo 45. Maybe 4 "Attitude Dancing"? Or so I could hear "Legend in Your Own Time"? I wonder what I put back by mistake...?
...I can also report that this apparently nameless 2nd-hand store in Bremerton's Perry Avenue Mall has a HUGE selection of reasonably-priced vinyl. I PUT BACK albums by Al Stewart, Incredible String Band, Rick Wakeman, It's a Beautiful Day, Fleetwood Mac, Rascals, etc.
Oh, they also have a Vee-Jay copy of INTRODUCING THE BEATLES, in a locked glass display case -- only $500?! Maybe if it were in the original shrink-wrap & had never been opened.... Damn, I coulda grabbed a copy 4 $2 back in 1976....
NEway, worth a visit if you're in the area....
No, what this is instead is a collection of stuff I've been piling up 4 the last few weeks -- material that wasn't quite enuf 4 a post of its own. Here 'tis....
Hope you've been catching rock critics Jim deRogatis & Greg Kott's weekly music show SOUND OPINIONS on an open-minded radio station near you. (Here they're on the University of Washington's KUOW-FM, Sunday nites at 10 pm.) In recent weeks they've had a long interview with producer Tony Visconti -- who talked about how fast folks like David Bowie & Marc Bolan (of T. Rex) liked 2 work in the studio, & about spending 10 MONTHS in the studio with the Moody Blues recording THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE. They even talked a bit about Gentle Giant, who Visconti produced sevral early albums 4. Visconti also talked about his book: BOWIE, BOLAN AND THE BROOKLYN BOY, which sounds like a hoot -- anybody out there got a copy? I can't afford Amazon's prices -- I promise 2 review it here, drop me your address below....
Last nite, March 31, 2 celebrate the start of baseball season, Jim & Greg talked about artists who achieved "grand slams" -- 4 great studio albums in a row. You can imagine summa the names that were mentioned -- Led Zep, etc., & there were lotsa critic's babies: XTC, Husker Du, Blur, etc. -- but I was suprised at summa the names that WEREN'T mentioned. I was working, so I didn't hear EVERYTHING, but... They SAID they weren't gonna include Bob Dylan, the Stones, Roxy Music. But how bout the Beatles? (REVOLVER/SGT. PEPPER/WHITE ALBUM/ABBEY ROAD)? How bout Pink Floyd (DARK SIDE/WISH YOU WERE HERE/ANIMALS/THE WALL)? Or The Who (SELL OUT/TOMMY/WHO'S NEXT/QUADROPHENIA)? How bout Fleetwood Mac (FLEETWOOD MAC/RUMOURS/TUSK/MIRAGE)?
...& then they quoted rock critic Lester Bangs on how "all music today goes back to the Velvet Underground," & listed their 4 great albums. Well, maybe. Xcept 4 "All Tomorrow's Parties," I've never been much of a Velvets fan -- but Jim & Greg said especially the Velvets' 2nd album, WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT, thrilled them & terrified them when they were young, & they submit that's what great rock&roll SHOULD do.
Well, still a pretty great radio show. Lotsa critics' babies, but. I've learned a few things. & they're a great argument-starter. Check 'em out, if you haven't already, if they're on-air where you're at....
Was listening 2 Blondie's charming remake of Randy and the Rainbows' early-'60s hit "Denise" (Blondie's version is on their GREATEST HITS), when I started wondering when was the last time I heard the original played on the radio. 4 me, it was near Salt Lake City, Utah, early in 1998, driving thru a snowstorm.
& then I started thinking about how Oldies Radio has failed us all if great stuff like this is forgotten in favor of the same old publically-acceptable 200 Oldies hits that everybody plays over & over.
When's the last time you heard Timmy Thomas's "Why Can't We Live Together" on radio? Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar"? Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "House at Pooh Corner"? Fanny's "Charity Ball" or "Butter Boy"? Or 100 others I could probly rattle off if I took a few minutes 2 think about it?
Can somebody with some MEMORY & IMAGINATION take over a radio station somewhere? I'd tune in... daily.
"THE BUG 3" -- Bagged a few more items during a trip thru a Bremerton 2nd-hand store over the weekend:
Mott the Hoople -- MOTT.
Mary-Chapin Carpenter -- COME ON COME ON.
Peter Gabriel -- 3.
Dusty Springfield -- YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME.
Nino Tempo and April Stevens -- DEEP PURPLE.
Patrick Moraz -- I.
Three Dog Night -- HARMONY.
Trisha Yearwood -- SONGBOOK best-of.
Liz Phair -- EXILE IN GUYVILLE.
Carly Simon -- BEST OF.
...The Mott 2 replace a CD copy I foolishly traded-off 5 years ago. Gotta hear "All the Way from Memphis" & "Honaloochie Boogie" & "Violence" again ... The Mary-Chapin Carpenter is an olde favorite from the '90s, worth it all 4 "Passionate Kisses" & "The Hard Way" & the title song & a coupla others ... The Gabriel mainly 4 the heartbreaking "Family Snapshot" -- I'm sure I won't play it much, but it'll B good 2 have it around ... Dusty 4 the gorgeous melodramatic title song ... Nino & April 4 the foghorn-impression title song of course -- but mainly 4 the amazing B-side "I've Been Carrying a Torch for You So Long That I've Burned a Great Big Hole in My Heart" (I'm NOT making this up!), which is somewhere between a yodel & a field holler, something that coulda come from another planet ... The Moraz cos I loved his work with the Moodies & have always thot he was screwed out of a lotta credit 4 that band's comeback in the '80s ... The Dog 2 replace a copy I've foolishly traded off 2wice now ... The Yearwood 4 the country hits I can't stop singing along with ("She's in Love With the Boy," "Thinking About You," "X's and O's," "Wrong Side of Memphis") -- if "Woman Walk the Line" were on it, it'd B perfect ... Liz Phair cos she got rave reviews & all I've ever heard by her were a coupla middling hits a few years back, including the wonderful "Extraordinary" ... The Carly Simon mighta been a mistake. I've already got "Anticipation" on an old promo 45. Maybe 4 "Attitude Dancing"? Or so I could hear "Legend in Your Own Time"? I wonder what I put back by mistake...?
...I can also report that this apparently nameless 2nd-hand store in Bremerton's Perry Avenue Mall has a HUGE selection of reasonably-priced vinyl. I PUT BACK albums by Al Stewart, Incredible String Band, Rick Wakeman, It's a Beautiful Day, Fleetwood Mac, Rascals, etc.
Oh, they also have a Vee-Jay copy of INTRODUCING THE BEATLES, in a locked glass display case -- only $500?! Maybe if it were in the original shrink-wrap & had never been opened.... Damn, I coulda grabbed a copy 4 $2 back in 1976....
NEway, worth a visit if you're in the area....
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
#643: The Bug 2
The new-music hunt&seek mission continues. On Monday the Girlfriend & I spent mosta the day hitting local 2nd-hand stores looking 4 new sounds & other stuff -- & as a result I probly have enuf new music in the house now 2 last me 4 MONTHS. Also scored some cheap new Motown best-of CD's 2 fill some holes in the at-work motivational-music bag of tricks.
The Girlfriend & I made a good team -- she scouted-out stashes of music I sometimes missed with my bad eyes, & then I dug thru it. I can recommend Jen's Attic in Bremerton, Wash., & the New 2 You Antique Mall in Port Orchard, Wash., as great places 2 track-down 2nd-hand vinyl & CD's at mostly-very-reasonable prices. (& the Port Orchard WalMart had a big bin of cheap new CD's, but this is NOT a commercial.) Here's what we came up with:
The Rip Chords (Bruce Johnston & Terry Melcher) -- HEY LITTLE COBRA.
The Roches -- NURDS.
Al Green -- GREATEST HITS.
Adam Ant -- FRIEND OR FOE.
Cars -- HEARTBEAT CITY.
Focus -- DUTCH MASTERS best-of.
Carole King -- HER GREATEST HITS.
Turtles -- MORE GOLDEN HITS.
Linda Ronstadt -- GREATEST HITS VOLUME 2.
Rascals -- SEE.
J. Geils Band -- BEST OF VOLUME 2.
Gary Lewis & the Playboys -- A SESSION WITH, THIS DIAMOND RING.
The Association -- AND THEN ALONG COMES....
Van Morrison -- BEST OF.
Journey -- INFINITY.
Byrds -- 20 ESSENTIAL TRACKS.
+ cheap new best-of CD's by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Diana Ross & the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, & Bob Dylan.
OK, so why? Well, I've been looking 4 a copy of HEY LITTLE COBRA 4 YEARS. Sounds like Beach Boys-lite, sorta. Can't wait 2 put on the gorgeous acapella "Here I Stand," & "Gone" & "The Queen" & "Ding Dong" & all the rest.... Almost put The Roches back when I saw it WASN'T produced by Bob Fripp -- but then noticed 1 of the songs is entitled "The Death of Suzzy Roche," & that's all I needed 2 see ... The Al Green best-of is 2 fill a hole in my '70s Soul collection, & cos "Let's Stay Together" still sounds great.... Adam Ant cos I'm a sucker 4 "Goody Two Shoes" (possibly my themesong?) & "Desperate But Not Serious".... HEARTBEAT CITY because it's the Cars' most consistent album, fulla great songs.... The Focus best-of just so I can hear more, & cos it fits in with my prog/Strange Music weakness.... Carole King's best mostly 4 the beautiful "Been to Canaan".... The Turtles' best-of mainly 4 the gorgeous "Lady-O" -- & also 4 1/2adozen more song titles I don't recognize.... La Ronstadt's best-of mainly 4 "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me" & "Poor Poor Pitiful Me".... The Rascals' mainly 4 the great title song & so I can hear more -- I also put BACK their TIME/PEACE best-of cos I have most of their hits on the original albums already.... The Geils mainly 4 "First I Look at the Purse".... Gary Lewis 4 "Count Me In" & "This Diamond Ring," & Bcos they were cheap ... The Association ditto, & 4 "Along Comes Mary".... Van's best-of Bcos I had his 3-CD STILL ON TOP best-of, loaned it 2 a friend 6 months ago, & haven't seen it since -- which PROVES you should never ever EVER loan books or music 2 friends. I 1nce loaned John McPhee's CURVE OF BINDING ENERGY to a roommate at tech school & he took it back 2 Georgia with him! ... INFINITY cos it's chock-full of good stuff that'll motivate me at work -- I shoulda picked-up Journey's EVOLUTION 4 $5 while I was at it.... The Byrds' best-of doesn't include "Wasn't Born to Follow" (the earliest co-opting of a song 4 an ad that I can think of -- it was turned in2 a Lucky Lager beer commercial around 1969), but almost all of the other essentials R there, with the Xception of the gorgeous "John Riley".... The Motown & BTO CD's R 4 motivational help at work (2 bad "Tramp" isn't included on the BTO), & the Dylan is mainly 4 the great "Tangled Up in Blue" (if "One of Us Must Know" was on it, it'd B essential).
This on top of the last cheaply-purchased batch, & I should have enuf new music 2 listen-2 2 keep me busy until Summer. Hopefully....
Reviews of all these will B coming in the days & weeks ahead....
...Oh, & 1 last thing: Why does everyone jack-up the prices on Beatles albums that have ALWAYS been available, that have NEVER been out of print? In R searches on Mon, I tripped over copies of the WHITE ALBUM, SGT. PEPPER, REVOLVER, RUBBER SOUL, HELP! -- & in each case the owners wanted $25 each! Why?! They're not RARE. R they asking that much just cos they survived the '60s?
The Girlfriend & I made a good team -- she scouted-out stashes of music I sometimes missed with my bad eyes, & then I dug thru it. I can recommend Jen's Attic in Bremerton, Wash., & the New 2 You Antique Mall in Port Orchard, Wash., as great places 2 track-down 2nd-hand vinyl & CD's at mostly-very-reasonable prices. (& the Port Orchard WalMart had a big bin of cheap new CD's, but this is NOT a commercial.) Here's what we came up with:
The Rip Chords (Bruce Johnston & Terry Melcher) -- HEY LITTLE COBRA.
The Roches -- NURDS.
Al Green -- GREATEST HITS.
Adam Ant -- FRIEND OR FOE.
Cars -- HEARTBEAT CITY.
Focus -- DUTCH MASTERS best-of.
Carole King -- HER GREATEST HITS.
Turtles -- MORE GOLDEN HITS.
Linda Ronstadt -- GREATEST HITS VOLUME 2.
Rascals -- SEE.
J. Geils Band -- BEST OF VOLUME 2.
Gary Lewis & the Playboys -- A SESSION WITH, THIS DIAMOND RING.
The Association -- AND THEN ALONG COMES....
Van Morrison -- BEST OF.
Journey -- INFINITY.
Byrds -- 20 ESSENTIAL TRACKS.
+ cheap new best-of CD's by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Diana Ross & the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, & Bob Dylan.
OK, so why? Well, I've been looking 4 a copy of HEY LITTLE COBRA 4 YEARS. Sounds like Beach Boys-lite, sorta. Can't wait 2 put on the gorgeous acapella "Here I Stand," & "Gone" & "The Queen" & "Ding Dong" & all the rest.... Almost put The Roches back when I saw it WASN'T produced by Bob Fripp -- but then noticed 1 of the songs is entitled "The Death of Suzzy Roche," & that's all I needed 2 see ... The Al Green best-of is 2 fill a hole in my '70s Soul collection, & cos "Let's Stay Together" still sounds great.... Adam Ant cos I'm a sucker 4 "Goody Two Shoes" (possibly my themesong?) & "Desperate But Not Serious".... HEARTBEAT CITY because it's the Cars' most consistent album, fulla great songs.... The Focus best-of just so I can hear more, & cos it fits in with my prog/Strange Music weakness.... Carole King's best mostly 4 the beautiful "Been to Canaan".... The Turtles' best-of mainly 4 the gorgeous "Lady-O" -- & also 4 1/2adozen more song titles I don't recognize.... La Ronstadt's best-of mainly 4 "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me" & "Poor Poor Pitiful Me".... The Rascals' mainly 4 the great title song & so I can hear more -- I also put BACK their TIME/PEACE best-of cos I have most of their hits on the original albums already.... The Geils mainly 4 "First I Look at the Purse".... Gary Lewis 4 "Count Me In" & "This Diamond Ring," & Bcos they were cheap ... The Association ditto, & 4 "Along Comes Mary".... Van's best-of Bcos I had his 3-CD STILL ON TOP best-of, loaned it 2 a friend 6 months ago, & haven't seen it since -- which PROVES you should never ever EVER loan books or music 2 friends. I 1nce loaned John McPhee's CURVE OF BINDING ENERGY to a roommate at tech school & he took it back 2 Georgia with him! ... INFINITY cos it's chock-full of good stuff that'll motivate me at work -- I shoulda picked-up Journey's EVOLUTION 4 $5 while I was at it.... The Byrds' best-of doesn't include "Wasn't Born to Follow" (the earliest co-opting of a song 4 an ad that I can think of -- it was turned in2 a Lucky Lager beer commercial around 1969), but almost all of the other essentials R there, with the Xception of the gorgeous "John Riley".... The Motown & BTO CD's R 4 motivational help at work (2 bad "Tramp" isn't included on the BTO), & the Dylan is mainly 4 the great "Tangled Up in Blue" (if "One of Us Must Know" was on it, it'd B essential).
This on top of the last cheaply-purchased batch, & I should have enuf new music 2 listen-2 2 keep me busy until Summer. Hopefully....
Reviews of all these will B coming in the days & weeks ahead....
...Oh, & 1 last thing: Why does everyone jack-up the prices on Beatles albums that have ALWAYS been available, that have NEVER been out of print? In R searches on Mon, I tripped over copies of the WHITE ALBUM, SGT. PEPPER, REVOLVER, RUBBER SOUL, HELP! -- & in each case the owners wanted $25 each! Why?! They're not RARE. R they asking that much just cos they survived the '60s?
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
#641: The Bug
Hey there again. Spent a coupla hours this afternoon (as part of my weekend) at a couple local 2nd-hand stores (Goodwill & Jen's Attic in Bremerton, Wash.) & brot home $80 worth of music that's intended 2 B listened-2 & eventually reviewed here. A lot of this stuff is completely new 2 me, took some chances. Had 2 do something 2 get outta my ongoing musical rut. & this is what Income Tax refunds R 4, right?
At what point does music collecting become an episode of HOARDERS? Well, I don't know, but here's what I bagged....
Clannad -- FUAIM.
Buck Owens -- LEGENDARY COUNTRY SINGERS best-of.
Herbie Mann -- LIVE AT THE VILLAGE GATE, MEMPHIS UNDERGROUND.
Ink Spots -- 10 GREATEST HITS.
John Fogerty -- 1st.
Pink Floyd -- THE FINAL CUT.
Bruce Springsteen -- NEBRASKA.
Renaissance -- TURN OF THE CARDS.
The Cure -- WISH.
Des'ree -- I AIN'T MOVIN'.
Paula Cole -- THIS FIRE.
Elton John -- GREATEST HITS 1976-1986.
Heart -- GREATEST HITS/LIVE.
King Crimson -- DISCIPLINE.
Doobie Brothers -- WHAT WERE ONCE VICES ARE NOW HABITS.
Petula Clark -- GREATEST HITS VOLUME 1.
Linda Ronstadt -- GREATEST HITS.
George Gershwin -- RHAPSODY IN BLUE.
Tchaikovsky -- 1812 OVERTURE.
Beethoven -- 5TH SYMPHONY.
Barbra Streisand -- CHRISTMAS ALBUM.
Johnathan and Darlene Edwards -- IN PARIS.
Dusty Springfield -- WISHIN' AND HOPIN'.
Laura Nyro and Labelle -- GONNA TAKE A MIRACLE.
Ahmad Jamal -- 1st.
...So, why? Well, I've loved almost everything I've heard by Clannad. ...Remember 3 or 4 songs by Buck Owens from when I was a kid, & 3 of them R on this best-of, + 22 more songs I've never heard.... Herbie Mann had a pretty good reputation B4 he went TOO EZ-Listening.... The Ink Spots useta crack me up when I was VERY young, tho I don't remember NE of their songs.... I've only heard 2 songs on J.C. Fogerty's 1st, both great: "Almost Saturday Night" & "Rockin' All Over the World.".... Haven't heard FINAL CUT in years, but have missed the title song & "Not Now John" .... NEBRASKA's sposta B pretty challenging -- I've never heard a note. ... The Renaissance will B another attempt 2 see if they did much good when not in-concert. ... Have heard 2 songs off The Cure album, love the classic "Friday I'm in Love." ... All I've heard by Des'ree is the hit "You've Gotta Be." ... There were 6 copies of the Paula Cole CD at Goodwill -- figured anything that inspired that many dumps must have something going 4 it -- have heard 2 good songs on it (NOT "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone"). ... Bot the Elton mainly 4 "Empty Garden" & "I'm Still Standing." ... Haven't heard the Heart best-of in YEARS, but there's GREAT live versions of "Sweet Darlin'" & "Mistral Wind." ... Caved-in on DISCIPLINE, which I already have on CD, but it only cost $5, so sue me.... Heard 3 trax off VICES/HABITS, all good.... Pet Clark? Well, forget "Downtown" -- how could you do without "I Know a Place"? .... Bot the Ronstadt mainly 4 "Long Long Time," a heartbroken classic. ... I trust I don't havta Xplain the Classical stuff.... Streisand's Xmas album includes a hysterical lightning-fast version of "Jingle Bells?" ... The Edwards'es R supposed 2 B a comedy act, if I remember right, + I couldn't resist the liner notes on the backcover; never heard a note by them B4.... The Dusty doesn't include "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (dammit), but I'll settle.... I only know Laura Nyro from the hits she wrote 4 Three Dog Night, BS&T, 5th Dimension, etc., so this is an Xperiment -- as I remember, the R&B remakes on MIRACLE got pretty good reviews.... Jamal was an early '60s jazz pianist, something of a big deal in his day, part of my ongoing effort 2 find more jazz I can enjoy....
...I'll have reports on all these, ... eventually....
At what point does music collecting become an episode of HOARDERS? Well, I don't know, but here's what I bagged....
Clannad -- FUAIM.
Buck Owens -- LEGENDARY COUNTRY SINGERS best-of.
Herbie Mann -- LIVE AT THE VILLAGE GATE, MEMPHIS UNDERGROUND.
Ink Spots -- 10 GREATEST HITS.
John Fogerty -- 1st.
Pink Floyd -- THE FINAL CUT.
Bruce Springsteen -- NEBRASKA.
Renaissance -- TURN OF THE CARDS.
The Cure -- WISH.
Des'ree -- I AIN'T MOVIN'.
Paula Cole -- THIS FIRE.
Elton John -- GREATEST HITS 1976-1986.
Heart -- GREATEST HITS/LIVE.
King Crimson -- DISCIPLINE.
Doobie Brothers -- WHAT WERE ONCE VICES ARE NOW HABITS.
Petula Clark -- GREATEST HITS VOLUME 1.
Linda Ronstadt -- GREATEST HITS.
George Gershwin -- RHAPSODY IN BLUE.
Tchaikovsky -- 1812 OVERTURE.
Beethoven -- 5TH SYMPHONY.
Barbra Streisand -- CHRISTMAS ALBUM.
Johnathan and Darlene Edwards -- IN PARIS.
Dusty Springfield -- WISHIN' AND HOPIN'.
Laura Nyro and Labelle -- GONNA TAKE A MIRACLE.
Ahmad Jamal -- 1st.
...So, why? Well, I've loved almost everything I've heard by Clannad. ...Remember 3 or 4 songs by Buck Owens from when I was a kid, & 3 of them R on this best-of, + 22 more songs I've never heard.... Herbie Mann had a pretty good reputation B4 he went TOO EZ-Listening.... The Ink Spots useta crack me up when I was VERY young, tho I don't remember NE of their songs.... I've only heard 2 songs on J.C. Fogerty's 1st, both great: "Almost Saturday Night" & "Rockin' All Over the World.".... Haven't heard FINAL CUT in years, but have missed the title song & "Not Now John" .... NEBRASKA's sposta B pretty challenging -- I've never heard a note. ... The Renaissance will B another attempt 2 see if they did much good when not in-concert. ... Have heard 2 songs off The Cure album, love the classic "Friday I'm in Love." ... All I've heard by Des'ree is the hit "You've Gotta Be." ... There were 6 copies of the Paula Cole CD at Goodwill -- figured anything that inspired that many dumps must have something going 4 it -- have heard 2 good songs on it (NOT "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone"). ... Bot the Elton mainly 4 "Empty Garden" & "I'm Still Standing." ... Haven't heard the Heart best-of in YEARS, but there's GREAT live versions of "Sweet Darlin'" & "Mistral Wind." ... Caved-in on DISCIPLINE, which I already have on CD, but it only cost $5, so sue me.... Heard 3 trax off VICES/HABITS, all good.... Pet Clark? Well, forget "Downtown" -- how could you do without "I Know a Place"? .... Bot the Ronstadt mainly 4 "Long Long Time," a heartbroken classic. ... I trust I don't havta Xplain the Classical stuff.... Streisand's Xmas album includes a hysterical lightning-fast version of "Jingle Bells?" ... The Edwards'es R supposed 2 B a comedy act, if I remember right, + I couldn't resist the liner notes on the backcover; never heard a note by them B4.... The Dusty doesn't include "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (dammit), but I'll settle.... I only know Laura Nyro from the hits she wrote 4 Three Dog Night, BS&T, 5th Dimension, etc., so this is an Xperiment -- as I remember, the R&B remakes on MIRACLE got pretty good reviews.... Jamal was an early '60s jazz pianist, something of a big deal in his day, part of my ongoing effort 2 find more jazz I can enjoy....
...I'll have reports on all these, ... eventually....
Monday, March 11, 2013
#640: Quitting Radio 2
It's sick, but sometimes my stash of 3-dozen CD's isn't ENUF motivation 2 get me thru a bad workday.
I'm slowly adding more motivational music, on my tight budget. & I've tried test-driving previously-unheard stuff at work, which often doesn't work 2 well 4 me, or 4 the public. Ghod knows what kind of damage I mighta caused 2 people's psyches when I tried out Cromagnon's CAVE ROCK at work a few months back....
But no matter what it is that's playing, even if it doesn't Xactly keep me moving, I know it makes me happier than hearing local radio spin something lame & WAY-played-out like the Eagles' "Heartache Tonight" 4 the 9-millionth time.
How did things get like this? & why do people settle 4 it? Maybe they don't -- & that's why portable music devices (iPods, Walkmans, Discmans, etc.) have been so popular since the early '80s.... Way better 2 program your own music, rather than letting commercial radio make completely predictable choices 4 you....
Anyway, 2 go along with my mostly-continuing radio boycott, here's what I've bn playing lately at work, in the car on the way 2 work, & elsewhere....
Florence + the Machine -- Shake it Out.
Stevie Wonder -- I Was Made to Love Her, Signed Sealed Delivered, Superstition, Higher Ground, You Haven't Done Nothin', I Wish, Sir Duke, That Girl.
Chicago -- Old Days.
Camel -- Never Let Go, Rhayader, Rhayader Goes to Town, Unevensong, Breathless, Echoes, Sasquatch, Mother Road.
Love -- Alone Again Or, A House is Not a Motel, The Daily Planet, Old Man, The Red Telephone, Maybe the People Should be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale.
Turtles -- Sound Asleep.
Beatles -- Ticket to Ride, Eight Days a Week, Paperback Writer, Help!
Kansas -- Miracles out of Nowhere, Questions of My Childhood.
Rush -- Time Stand Still, Force Ten, Marathon, Mission.
Fleetwood Mac -- Oh Well, Green Manalishi, Why?
...Stevie Wonder went over pretty well at work. I hadn't heard "Higher Ground" & "You Haven't Done Nothin'" in YEARS, & they both still sound great. "I Wish" is practically a themesong 4 a nostalgia nut like me -- which makes it a good companion-piece 2 Chicago's "Old Days." "That Girl" unfortunately sounds better coming unXpectedly out of the car radio....
Should note that Love's FOREVER CHANGES features some really Xcellent, powerful acoustic-guitar strumming & slashing along with occasional electric-gtr freakouts 2 accompany the superb songs....
Checked-out a couple local 2nd-hand stores last week, grabbing cheap old albums by the Turtles, 2 by the Rascals, Youngbloods, Paul Simon & Gordon Lightfoot. Haven't actually LISTENED 2 any of these yet. (Crap, I still have stuff I grabbed last JULY that I haven't played yet....)
Left Bhind a few things that might B worth some $$$ -- King Crimson's DISCIPLINE (couldn't justify spending $8 4 an album cover since I already have it on a home-burned CD), + the Four Seasons' STORY 2-record best-of (on Private Stock, out-of-print since about 1978), Bobby Goldsboro's 20TH ANNIVERSARY 2-record best-of, & Rod Stewart's 2-record Mercury BEST OF.
I already have enuf Rod the Mod 2 keep me happy -- & tho I briefly thot about grabbing the 4 Seasons & Bobby Goldsboro cos they might B worth some $$$, then I started thinking about HOW 2 sell them & 2 who, how quickly I could turn the $$$ around, & decided it wasn't worth it -- these days I can only justify buying stuff I might actually LISTEN 2.... (But if you're intrested in these, check out the Port Orchard, Wash., St. Vincent DePaul's Thrift Store -- they're CHEAP....)
...About the only thing I can find worth hearing on local radio these days is rock critics Jim DeRogatis & Greg Kott's weekly SOUND OPINIONS program, carried here on the University of Washington's KUOW FM. In recent weeks they've had interviews & live performances with/by Aimee Mann, Lucinda Williams & others, reviews & samples of good-sounding new stuff (Richard Thompson's ELECTRIC, Rye's WOMAN), & overviews of shoegaze, '80s psychedelia, etc. Some critics' babies, 2 B sure, but not enuf reviews or Desert Island-worthy picks....
Oh, & Seattle's news station KOMO aired a pretty good 5-minute interview with Paul Revere of the Raiders. Did you know the Rolling Stones OPENED a show for the Raiders once...?
More soon!
I'm slowly adding more motivational music, on my tight budget. & I've tried test-driving previously-unheard stuff at work, which often doesn't work 2 well 4 me, or 4 the public. Ghod knows what kind of damage I mighta caused 2 people's psyches when I tried out Cromagnon's CAVE ROCK at work a few months back....
But no matter what it is that's playing, even if it doesn't Xactly keep me moving, I know it makes me happier than hearing local radio spin something lame & WAY-played-out like the Eagles' "Heartache Tonight" 4 the 9-millionth time.
How did things get like this? & why do people settle 4 it? Maybe they don't -- & that's why portable music devices (iPods, Walkmans, Discmans, etc.) have been so popular since the early '80s.... Way better 2 program your own music, rather than letting commercial radio make completely predictable choices 4 you....
Anyway, 2 go along with my mostly-continuing radio boycott, here's what I've bn playing lately at work, in the car on the way 2 work, & elsewhere....
Florence + the Machine -- Shake it Out.
Stevie Wonder -- I Was Made to Love Her, Signed Sealed Delivered, Superstition, Higher Ground, You Haven't Done Nothin', I Wish, Sir Duke, That Girl.
Chicago -- Old Days.
Camel -- Never Let Go, Rhayader, Rhayader Goes to Town, Unevensong, Breathless, Echoes, Sasquatch, Mother Road.
Love -- Alone Again Or, A House is Not a Motel, The Daily Planet, Old Man, The Red Telephone, Maybe the People Should be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale.
Turtles -- Sound Asleep.
Beatles -- Ticket to Ride, Eight Days a Week, Paperback Writer, Help!
Kansas -- Miracles out of Nowhere, Questions of My Childhood.
Rush -- Time Stand Still, Force Ten, Marathon, Mission.
Fleetwood Mac -- Oh Well, Green Manalishi, Why?
...Stevie Wonder went over pretty well at work. I hadn't heard "Higher Ground" & "You Haven't Done Nothin'" in YEARS, & they both still sound great. "I Wish" is practically a themesong 4 a nostalgia nut like me -- which makes it a good companion-piece 2 Chicago's "Old Days." "That Girl" unfortunately sounds better coming unXpectedly out of the car radio....
Should note that Love's FOREVER CHANGES features some really Xcellent, powerful acoustic-guitar strumming & slashing along with occasional electric-gtr freakouts 2 accompany the superb songs....
Checked-out a couple local 2nd-hand stores last week, grabbing cheap old albums by the Turtles, 2 by the Rascals, Youngbloods, Paul Simon & Gordon Lightfoot. Haven't actually LISTENED 2 any of these yet. (Crap, I still have stuff I grabbed last JULY that I haven't played yet....)
Left Bhind a few things that might B worth some $$$ -- King Crimson's DISCIPLINE (couldn't justify spending $8 4 an album cover since I already have it on a home-burned CD), + the Four Seasons' STORY 2-record best-of (on Private Stock, out-of-print since about 1978), Bobby Goldsboro's 20TH ANNIVERSARY 2-record best-of, & Rod Stewart's 2-record Mercury BEST OF.
I already have enuf Rod the Mod 2 keep me happy -- & tho I briefly thot about grabbing the 4 Seasons & Bobby Goldsboro cos they might B worth some $$$, then I started thinking about HOW 2 sell them & 2 who, how quickly I could turn the $$$ around, & decided it wasn't worth it -- these days I can only justify buying stuff I might actually LISTEN 2.... (But if you're intrested in these, check out the Port Orchard, Wash., St. Vincent DePaul's Thrift Store -- they're CHEAP....)
...About the only thing I can find worth hearing on local radio these days is rock critics Jim DeRogatis & Greg Kott's weekly SOUND OPINIONS program, carried here on the University of Washington's KUOW FM. In recent weeks they've had interviews & live performances with/by Aimee Mann, Lucinda Williams & others, reviews & samples of good-sounding new stuff (Richard Thompson's ELECTRIC, Rye's WOMAN), & overviews of shoegaze, '80s psychedelia, etc. Some critics' babies, 2 B sure, but not enuf reviews or Desert Island-worthy picks....
Oh, & Seattle's news station KOMO aired a pretty good 5-minute interview with Paul Revere of the Raiders. Did you know the Rolling Stones OPENED a show for the Raiders once...?
More soon!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
A really rude habit....
A coupla days back, drewzepmeister at http://drewsoddsandsods.blogspot.com/ posted a pic & some background Dtails about his music collection -- what's in it, how he got started, etc., & it set off a lot of memries 4 me -- which is 2 bad, cos I've bn collecting music & books since at least age 12. But I think I already had the 1st stages of the incurable disease even B4 that.
4 me, 1 of the manifestations of that disease is the Mbarrassing & rude habit I needta confess 2 right now, if U'll 4give me:
NEtime I'm ever invited in2 some1's home, I ALWAYS take a long look at their music & book collection. ALWAYS. Sometimes B4 I'm even done shaking hands & saying Hi or thru making polite conversation about the living room's decor. Even w/ total strangers, I immediately drift 2 the bookshelf or record/CD cabinet.
It's rude as hell, I know. I still think U can make quick, sweeping (probably mistaken) Judgements about people based on what they read & listen-2. & this is important in the process of getting 2 know some1 & Dciding if U wanna hang out.
Every time I've ever asked a woman out, sooner or later we've GOT 2 talk about music & books -- & if she dodges the subject, it's unlikely NEthing more is ever gonna happen Xcept 4 a cuppa coffee.
What I wanna know, as I'm confessing my hidden shame here, is whether NE1 else is like this...?
The roots of this problem go a LONG way back, probly at least 2 my impressionable & 4mative pre-teen yrs.... When I was 12, my next-door neighbor Mike Page had what was then the biggest record collection I'd ever Cn, mainly filled by singers & bands I'd never heard of B4-- Black Sabbath? Grand Funk Railroad? Led Zeppelin? The Animals? Jimi Hendrix? Buddy Miles? Vanilla Fudge? Blue Cheer? Who were these people?
Mike also had 100's of 45's, some of which he Bqueathed 2 me, Ghod bless him -- insidiously furthering my disease....
Around this period I started buying my own 45's & albums, which led 2 the mountains of vinyl I C around me 2day.... It took me another coupla yrs 2 start buying books, a disease which progressed 2 the point where at 1 time I had WAY more books than clothes, furniture, kitchen items, etc....
The disease continued in2 highschool. By then I'd 4med what I thot was a Dcent start 2 an album collection, & I knew my tastes were ... a bit off from "normal." Then I met some1 who's musical tastes were WAY farther out: My old highschool buddy Don Vincent made my definition of "weird" look old-fashioned. Don useta buy albums based on how weird their covers looked -- the farther-out & spacier, the better, & he was very seldom wrong. He was the 1st 2 try stuff I still listen-2 today: Gryphon, David Sancious, Charlie Dore, Pat Metheny, Amazing Blondel, Keith Jarrett.... Don & I also progressed in2 insidious "Stump The Band" contests, in which 1 or the other of us would put-on R latest off-the-wall purchase & defy the other 2 guess just from the music who or what this new item was....
Speaking of sweeping judgements, R old highschool friend Jeff Mann was probly the 1st victim of R sweeping judgements about how much U can tell about a person based on their listening habits. A foaming-at-the-mouth Beatles fan, after highschool Jeff went thru a phase where he bot EVERYTHING that was considered LOUD & TRENDY by his chosen hard-drinking hard-living peer-group: AC/DC, REO Speedwagon, Journey, Boston, the Cars, Molly Hatchet, Ted Nugent, Meat Loaf.... 4 all the albums Jeff bot & loved, there were never NE that were even mildly suprising -- & Don & I gave him hell 4 it. 4 while we were busy copying each others' musical tastes, we would NEVER buy NETHING that was predictable or cliched ... haha: 1/2 of what Jeff listened-2 back in those days I now put on regularly....
When women came along, my addiction mutated slightly. NE woman who knew me was gonna havta put up w/ the weird music & the odd books. My highschool sweetheart (who, 2 protect her identity, we're going 2 call, oh ... Allison) would have none of this -- she thot 95% of all current music & books back THEN were crap, that only The Classics would survive, & that AT LEAST 99% of everything I read, listened-2 & loved was crap -- & she would say so at length, at every opportunity. NE suprise that I loved her? Also no suprise that it didn't last long....
The next girlfriend (who 4 fictional purposes we're going 2 call Tina), a borderline-psycho redhead, had no music or book collection, didn't remember names of songs or books or musicians or writers. This should have bn a warning 2 me. Tho she adopted summa my faves & put up w/ my odd tastes, she had no real intrests of her own.... No suprise that this relationship didn't last long either (tho it dragged on 2wice as long as Allison ... hmmm).
The X-wife (who I've previously ID'd here as Cyndi, so there's no point changing her name now) was a little more devious -- this is the woman who "let" me "teach" her how 2 play cribbage right after we met, let me win the 1st game, then won the next 13 in a row B4 I gave up. THEN she told me she'd bn playing cribbage 4 years. Pretty smart, eh?
We put up w/ each other's diverse musical tastes pretty well, as long as we didn't inflict 2 much outrageousness on each other. Early in R marriage, while driving around San Antonio, we got in2 a HUGE argument cos I wanted 2 skip over the bad parts of a Pat Benatar album (almost all of it) while Cyndi wanted 2 sing along w/ the whole thing. By the time we got home we were both so mad we stormed off in diffrent directions.... & yet this marriage dragged on 4 17 yrs....
My most recent girlfriend (who 4 fictional purposes we'll call Mary) is not only a BIG Pink Floyd fan, she also Njoys summa my fave weirdnesses (Nick Drake, some Caravan) -- & she can 1-up me. W/ all my supposedly vast musical knowledge, I'd never heard Rod Stewart's gorgeous & moving "Handbags and Gladrags" until Mary pointed it out 2 me.
There've bn other acquaintances who've tried 2 get thru the all-Cing, all-knowing, all-revealing net of listening & reading habits. 1 woman I knew had a book collection that ran from fluffy historical romances 2 huge, dry tomes on current politics (that she never read), & a music collection that ran from straight country (Is there such a thing as gay country? Wait, don't answer that) 2 heavy-metal. Shoulda bn no suprise that she was a little ... scattered, self-contradictory.
Others have dodged the musical-taste question, 1 woman saying when asked what she liked 2 listen-2 that "I'm an eclectic." When's the last time U heard THAT word dropped in normal conversation? (The only time I've ever heard it used other than in a piece of rock criticism was in the lyric 4 The Cars' "Hello Again.") It's not like I was asking just so I'd have a chance 2 say "Oh, so THAT'S what YOU like?"
Now, judging by his collection (it took a long time 2 get 2 it, but here goes), I can assume that Drew is a simple, no-frills, down-2-Earth rocker, who takes no BS (Deep Purple, Nazareth, Foghat, Skynyrd, Iron Maiden, Montrose, Who), but who's mayB a little bit open 2 The Cosmic (Yes's TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS, Mahavishnu's BIRDS OF FIRE), & sometimes just likes 2 have a simple, relaxed Good Time (Beatles' 2ND ALBUM).
Now, what I wanna know is, does NE1 else do this kinda amateur psychology based on what they find on a friend's book or music shelf? Or am I alone in my sweeping thoughtless condemnations of other people's lives...? (That's what this lifelong addiction does 2 U!)
However it turns out, thanx 2 Drew 4 opening up his collection 2 perusal of this sort ... & I think I might B on2 a new "science" of charting personality traits & predicting life choices that's at least as reliable as ... oh, astrology, Tarot-card reading.... Course I don't wanna THINK about what it sez about ME....
4 me, 1 of the manifestations of that disease is the Mbarrassing & rude habit I needta confess 2 right now, if U'll 4give me:
NEtime I'm ever invited in2 some1's home, I ALWAYS take a long look at their music & book collection. ALWAYS. Sometimes B4 I'm even done shaking hands & saying Hi or thru making polite conversation about the living room's decor. Even w/ total strangers, I immediately drift 2 the bookshelf or record/CD cabinet.
It's rude as hell, I know. I still think U can make quick, sweeping (probably mistaken) Judgements about people based on what they read & listen-2. & this is important in the process of getting 2 know some1 & Dciding if U wanna hang out.
Every time I've ever asked a woman out, sooner or later we've GOT 2 talk about music & books -- & if she dodges the subject, it's unlikely NEthing more is ever gonna happen Xcept 4 a cuppa coffee.
What I wanna know, as I'm confessing my hidden shame here, is whether NE1 else is like this...?
The roots of this problem go a LONG way back, probly at least 2 my impressionable & 4mative pre-teen yrs.... When I was 12, my next-door neighbor Mike Page had what was then the biggest record collection I'd ever Cn, mainly filled by singers & bands I'd never heard of B4-- Black Sabbath? Grand Funk Railroad? Led Zeppelin? The Animals? Jimi Hendrix? Buddy Miles? Vanilla Fudge? Blue Cheer? Who were these people?
Mike also had 100's of 45's, some of which he Bqueathed 2 me, Ghod bless him -- insidiously furthering my disease....
Around this period I started buying my own 45's & albums, which led 2 the mountains of vinyl I C around me 2day.... It took me another coupla yrs 2 start buying books, a disease which progressed 2 the point where at 1 time I had WAY more books than clothes, furniture, kitchen items, etc....
The disease continued in2 highschool. By then I'd 4med what I thot was a Dcent start 2 an album collection, & I knew my tastes were ... a bit off from "normal." Then I met some1 who's musical tastes were WAY farther out: My old highschool buddy Don Vincent made my definition of "weird" look old-fashioned. Don useta buy albums based on how weird their covers looked -- the farther-out & spacier, the better, & he was very seldom wrong. He was the 1st 2 try stuff I still listen-2 today: Gryphon, David Sancious, Charlie Dore, Pat Metheny, Amazing Blondel, Keith Jarrett.... Don & I also progressed in2 insidious "Stump The Band" contests, in which 1 or the other of us would put-on R latest off-the-wall purchase & defy the other 2 guess just from the music who or what this new item was....
Speaking of sweeping judgements, R old highschool friend Jeff Mann was probly the 1st victim of R sweeping judgements about how much U can tell about a person based on their listening habits. A foaming-at-the-mouth Beatles fan, after highschool Jeff went thru a phase where he bot EVERYTHING that was considered LOUD & TRENDY by his chosen hard-drinking hard-living peer-group: AC/DC, REO Speedwagon, Journey, Boston, the Cars, Molly Hatchet, Ted Nugent, Meat Loaf.... 4 all the albums Jeff bot & loved, there were never NE that were even mildly suprising -- & Don & I gave him hell 4 it. 4 while we were busy copying each others' musical tastes, we would NEVER buy NETHING that was predictable or cliched ... haha: 1/2 of what Jeff listened-2 back in those days I now put on regularly....
When women came along, my addiction mutated slightly. NE woman who knew me was gonna havta put up w/ the weird music & the odd books. My highschool sweetheart (who, 2 protect her identity, we're going 2 call, oh ... Allison) would have none of this -- she thot 95% of all current music & books back THEN were crap, that only The Classics would survive, & that AT LEAST 99% of everything I read, listened-2 & loved was crap -- & she would say so at length, at every opportunity. NE suprise that I loved her? Also no suprise that it didn't last long....
The next girlfriend (who 4 fictional purposes we're going 2 call Tina), a borderline-psycho redhead, had no music or book collection, didn't remember names of songs or books or musicians or writers. This should have bn a warning 2 me. Tho she adopted summa my faves & put up w/ my odd tastes, she had no real intrests of her own.... No suprise that this relationship didn't last long either (tho it dragged on 2wice as long as Allison ... hmmm).
The X-wife (who I've previously ID'd here as Cyndi, so there's no point changing her name now) was a little more devious -- this is the woman who "let" me "teach" her how 2 play cribbage right after we met, let me win the 1st game, then won the next 13 in a row B4 I gave up. THEN she told me she'd bn playing cribbage 4 years. Pretty smart, eh?
We put up w/ each other's diverse musical tastes pretty well, as long as we didn't inflict 2 much outrageousness on each other. Early in R marriage, while driving around San Antonio, we got in2 a HUGE argument cos I wanted 2 skip over the bad parts of a Pat Benatar album (almost all of it) while Cyndi wanted 2 sing along w/ the whole thing. By the time we got home we were both so mad we stormed off in diffrent directions.... & yet this marriage dragged on 4 17 yrs....
My most recent girlfriend (who 4 fictional purposes we'll call Mary) is not only a BIG Pink Floyd fan, she also Njoys summa my fave weirdnesses (Nick Drake, some Caravan) -- & she can 1-up me. W/ all my supposedly vast musical knowledge, I'd never heard Rod Stewart's gorgeous & moving "Handbags and Gladrags" until Mary pointed it out 2 me.
There've bn other acquaintances who've tried 2 get thru the all-Cing, all-knowing, all-revealing net of listening & reading habits. 1 woman I knew had a book collection that ran from fluffy historical romances 2 huge, dry tomes on current politics (that she never read), & a music collection that ran from straight country (Is there such a thing as gay country? Wait, don't answer that) 2 heavy-metal. Shoulda bn no suprise that she was a little ... scattered, self-contradictory.
Others have dodged the musical-taste question, 1 woman saying when asked what she liked 2 listen-2 that "I'm an eclectic." When's the last time U heard THAT word dropped in normal conversation? (The only time I've ever heard it used other than in a piece of rock criticism was in the lyric 4 The Cars' "Hello Again.") It's not like I was asking just so I'd have a chance 2 say "Oh, so THAT'S what YOU like?"
Now, judging by his collection (it took a long time 2 get 2 it, but here goes), I can assume that Drew is a simple, no-frills, down-2-Earth rocker, who takes no BS (Deep Purple, Nazareth, Foghat, Skynyrd, Iron Maiden, Montrose, Who), but who's mayB a little bit open 2 The Cosmic (Yes's TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS, Mahavishnu's BIRDS OF FIRE), & sometimes just likes 2 have a simple, relaxed Good Time (Beatles' 2ND ALBUM).
Now, what I wanna know is, does NE1 else do this kinda amateur psychology based on what they find on a friend's book or music shelf? Or am I alone in my sweeping thoughtless condemnations of other people's lives...? (That's what this lifelong addiction does 2 U!)
However it turns out, thanx 2 Drew 4 opening up his collection 2 perusal of this sort ... & I think I might B on2 a new "science" of charting personality traits & predicting life choices that's at least as reliable as ... oh, astrology, Tarot-card reading.... Course I don't wanna THINK about what it sez about ME....
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